ATA Sets Policy on Potential Sleep Disorder Screenings

LAS VEGAS — American Trucking Associations’ directors told federal officials that any regulations on sleep disorder screenings should be developed through the formal rulemaking process and not through an informal procedure.

The federation’s policy declaration Wednesday came after a medical officer with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said here the agency would issue “guidance” concerning apnea screenings “later this year or in early 2013.”

“We do not support FMCSA providing guidance,” Mike Card, ATA’s new chairman, said at the conclusion of the group’s annual Management Conference & Exhibition here on Wednesday. “If they are going to do a rule concerning sleep apnea, we recommend it be done during a rulemaking procedure.”

“The rulemaking process allows for public input. It requires a cost-benefit analysis; that is the right process and the one we want to see and the process that should be taken going forward,” said Dave Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president for policy and regulatory affairs. “We are a little concerned that is not the current plan of this administration.” 

The new policy gives ATA the chance to tell FMCSA “why we think a legitimate regulatory process is the right path to travel here,” he said.

Elaine Papp, division chief for FMCSA’s office of medical programs, said in an MCE educational session on Tuesday that the guidance would be based on recommendations from two advisory committees, the Medical Review Board and the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.

“Once we publish it, and get all the public comments, we’ll modify the guidance based on what the public says,” Papp told Transport Topics.

Papp said the committees have jointly recommended developing the interim guidance for medical examiners and a long-term rulemaking.