A new app unveiled by the state's consumer watchdog agency allows users to search a database of nearly 600,000 professionals certified by New Jersey, from doctors and dentists to morticians and acupuncturists.
A new app for iPhone and iPad users will allow New Jerseyans to research professionals to ensure they are properly licensed.TRENTON — Does your doctor have a clean record? Is your plumber on the up-and-up? Once upon a time, those questions took valuable minutes out of busy days and sent consumers flipping through something called a "phonebook" — whatever that is.
But for the tech-savvy masses armed with iPhones and iPads, the answers are now mere keystrokes away.
An app unveiled Monday by the state's consumer watchdog agency allows users to search a database of nearly 600,000 professionals certified by New Jersey, from doctors and dentists to morticians and acupuncturists.
It’s what you call instant ratification: In a matter of seconds, the Apple gadgets can suss out whether a nurse is properly licensed or if an accountant has ever been disciplined for cooking the books — essential bits of information for anyone shopping around.
"This app represents a new and easy way for consumers to access that information," said Thomas Calcagni, director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. "Consumers expose themselves to great risk, and not just financially, when they work with so-called professionals" that lack credentials.
The app is called "New Jersey Professional License," a somewhat-fusty name for what is really a cutting-edge security update, especially for the hordes of frazzled multitaskers dashing off e-mail messages on the go. The database is updated daily, and users can download it at no charge from the App Store.
Officials said it’s another weapon New Jerseyans can use to fight consumer fraud.
"We have seen people lose out on thousands of dollars," said Neal Buccino, a spokesman for the Division of Consumer Affairs.
Last year, for example, the state received 1,400 complaints about dishonest home improvement contractors.
"Many of (them) were unregistered and simply skipped town after collecting payment," Calcagni said. "Registration means that the contractor has an established business address and at least $500,000 of liability insurance."
And over the last two years, he said, the state has arrested close to 20 unlicensed doctors and dentists, who inflicted their patients with "horrific infections, broken teeth that were not fully extracted, and unconsciousness following the inappropriate use of anesthesia."
Buccino said one of the state’s technology contractors built the app over the last six weeks at no additional cost for New Jersey. The contractor, NICUSA, will monitor the application’s progress on Apple’s store and develop any necessary upgrades.
The app could help consumers crunched for time, but it only offers so much information, Buccino said. If someone wants to check why a doctor or veterinarian was disciplined, they should phone the Division of Consumer Affairs, he said, or use a good, old-fashioned computer to get details online.