MAY 1, 2018 – A ruling that would end the need for CMV drivers to carry medical cards was delayed due to issues with the federal online registry system. The ruling, which was set to go into effect on June 22 will be pushed back three years. The new implementation date is June 22, 2022.
The national medical examiner registry has been down since it was hacked in early December, and will not be fully operational until enhanced security measures are put into place. The FMCSA alluded to this issue in the reason for the delay, stating, “Due to a number of delays, including an incident that occurred in early December 2017 causing the agency to take the national registry offline leading to interruptions in the development of the process for the electronic transmission of medical examiner certification information and medical variances, the final specifications … have not been completed.”
In addition to eliminating the need for drivers to carry their DOT medical card, the ruling will require the FMCSA to submit information about each driver’s DOT physical exam results and restriction information (including whether they have any medical variances) to the driver licensing agencies in each state.
DOT medical examiners will still be required to submit the results of each driver’s DOT physical exam to the FMCSA. This includes whether a driver failed their physical and was denied a medical card. Due to the registry being down, examiners currently have a backlog of these results that will need to be submitted once the website is fully operational again.
Despite the technical challenges facing the medical examiner registry, drivers do still have the ability to search for healthcare professionals in their area who are authorized to perform DOT physical exams, thanks to a search tool set up the DOT. Healthcare professionals can also request to have themselves added to the search tool.
The FMCSA is accepting public comments in regards to the delay for the next 60 days. You can view, or leave your own comments, here.