By Anson Ross Thompson, chief executive officerand president, The Thompson Group

Last week I had two separate claims that I solved using a simplesolution: my iPhone.

From time to time I'll get a call from a claimant with a requestfor some help. Since I'm in my car 94.87656 percent of thetime with very little access to our management system, I struggleto get updated information about ongoing claims.

My solution? Call the adjuster or claims manager, then callthe claimant and combine the calls using my iPhone.

In the first situation, the claimant had slipped and fallen atone of our client's locations and was concerned that none ofthe medical bills had been paid yet. Since he was gettinga few collection notices, he was very concerned and angry that wehad failed to take care of this situation.

It sounded strange to me because the claim was about 90days old and the carrier is usually very prompt with its claimpayments. I asked the claimant if he was going to be availablelater that day. He said, “Damn right I'll be available!”

Then I called the adjuster on the claim, indicated theclaimant's level of frustration, and then called the claimant backwith the adjuster on the line. I opened the call with anarrative from both sides and then shut up.

Amazingly, it turned out that the carrier had paid $10,000 ofmedical bills and was finalizing the rest of the liabilityclaim. The claimant was very apologetic for his poor attitudeand thanked the adjuster and me for our help.

The other claim involved an attorney for my client who wastrying to finalize some paperwork required by the carrier. Inthis situation, I put my client and the client's counsel on thephone using the “combine” feature, then sent an email to thecarrier giving an update on their progress. This claims looksto be nearing an end as well.

Combining calls is a simple feature on most smartphones. If you have yet to use this tool, try it. Itmight make your life a little easier.