Proposal Would Require Same-Day Reports of Drivers’ Medical Results to Government

Medical professionals would be required to report the results of physical examinations of commercial drivers to the federal government on the same day as the exam under a regulation proposed last week.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposal would also end the practice of drivers bringing their medical certificates to their employers and to state licensing agencies.

Instead, FMCSA would create an electronic system that within days would transmit the information received from the medical examiners to the state where the driver is applying for a new license or a renewal.

“Although the safety benefits of this rule are difficult to fully quantify, the agency believes that the fraud prevention in electronic transmission of [medical certificates] will continue to improve safety on public roads,” FMCSA said in a Federal Register notice released May 9.

The regulation would strengthen FMCSA’s rule on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners, which requires that medical professionals be trained and tested on commercial driver requirements before they can conduct physicals and then be listed on the national registry.

The purpose of the registry rule is to keep physically unfit drivers from shopping for doctors who will certify them. That rule takes effect in May 2014.

If FMCSA finalizes this latest enhancement to the rule, medical examiners would have to submit electronic information each day about all the physicals they conduct, including failed ones, and FMCSA would send it to the appropriate state.

There is uncertainty, however, over how quickly and effectively the new rules can be implemented.

A top FMCSA official said that by April the registry only had about 800 certified medical examiners, compared with the 40,000 the agency said would be needed.

FMCSA may launch an effort to recruit medical professionals to take the training and testing required for the registry, Jack Van Steenburg, chief safety officer, said April 30 at the National Private Truck Council’s annual conference.

“We need to go out and reach more physicians,” Van Steenburg said.

When it published the final rule in April 2012 creating the national registry, FMCSA said 40,000 examiners would be needed to give an estimated 2.6 million physicals a year.

FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne said the agency is confident it will have a sufficient number of examiners.

However, Don Lacy, director of safety for Prime Inc., the Springfield, Mo.-based carrier, expressed concern about doctor availability.

“The thinking is that a lot of doctors won’t want to take the time out to be certified,” Lacy said of the training. “They’ll say, ‘I just won’t do [driver] physicals anymore.’ ”

Like many carriers, Prime uses its own list of medical examiners — one doctor on staff, the others through a national chain of clinics, Lacy said.

Prime formerly allowed drivers to be certified after an exam with any doctor, often a family doctor unfamiliar with the health requirements of being a truck driver, Lacy said. That practice ended after an accident that cost Prime a $2 million settlement, he added.

The doctor who certified the driver of the truck didn’t say, or didn’t know, that the driver “was actually blind in one eye,” he said.

Another uncertainty with the new rules is how well states will implement them.

“I’m just a little bit apprehensive that it’s not going to work as smoothly as anticipated because I don’t think that all the states are quite up to speed with this [CDL] process because of lack of funding,” said Ron Uriah, vice president of safety and risk management at Pitt Ohio, which also relies on its own list of doctors.

Even if states get the exam results quickly, they may not process CDL applications any faster, Uriah said.

“They don’t have the process or resources, whatever that includes, whether it’s manpower or technology, funding, probably all three,” he said. “And now you have a poor [driver] who’s qualified that can’t earn a living.”

FMCSA said the electronic system would streamline processes for drivers and states, saving $10.1 million per year.

American Trucking Associations is pleased about the proposed rule, said Boyd Stephenson, ATA’s director of hazardous materials policy.

“This is something we’re very excited about that’s way overdue,” he said.

ATA is concerned, though, that the data transmission on exams could take a few days and, Stephenson said, ATA wants drivers to be allowed to carry paper medical cards during that time.

FMCSA will accept comments until July 9.

Staff writer Daniel P. Bearth contributed to this story.