Ambulance Chasing by Smartphone?

A new mobile app promises to help personal injury and workers compensation attorneys to find the right doctor, fast. The app covers the great car accident paradise of Southern California.

Specialist doctors form a cottage industry in areas like SoCal. Here’s how it works: If you’re in an accident and retain a personal injury attorney he/she will send you to a doctor to receive an evaluation. The same is true if you’re injured on the job and want to put in a workers comp claim.

The app promises to help these attorneys find doctors experienced in writing the necessary medical and legal reports, and are located near their clients’ homes or workplaces.

Doctors on Liens, the firm that offers the app, said that it works on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. The firm bills itself as a network of medical professionals who specialize in med/legal evaluations and treatments for personal injury and workers compensation cases on a lien basis.

Whether this is a happy development depends on whom you’re talking to. Insurers complain that fraud rings often comprise attorneys and “friendly” doctors working together to trump up injury claims from fender-benders or minor workplace injuries.

On the other hand, this company is putting its clients on the record, and creating a digital trail of accountability that insurance and workers comp investigators can follow when deciding to approve claims. Since shady characters usually don’t like to leave a digital trail, this app could actually help reduce fraud by putting attorneys – and the doctors they work with – on the record.