WASHINGTON – A new system meant to streamline communication between state licensing agencies and federal regulators regarding commercial drivers’ medical certification status likely will be delayed for three years.
That means a rule that would have eliminated the need for drivers to carry their medical cards beginning this month also will be placed on hold.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration blamed the delay on the hacking of the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners late last year.
FMCSA said the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration final rule, scheduled to take effect June 22, would not require compliance until June 22, 2021.
The national registry, down for more than four months, is “dependent upon the implementation of information technology infrastructure that will not be available on June 22,” FMCSA said.
The integration rule would require FMCSA to electronically transmit to state licensing agencies the results of drivers’ medical certifications once exams have been completed.
The agency receives the information from medical examiners, who, beginning June 2, will be required to upload to FMCSA the results of exams by midnight the day after they’re completed.
FMCSA would then be required to send those results to state agencies, which would then have to send the results to the Commercial Driver’s License Information System to make other states aware of drivers’ exam results.
Those reporting requirements are now on hold for three years.
Paper certificates
Despite the delay, examiners will still be required to upload driver exam results by midnight the next day starting this June 2. In addition, examiners will continue issuing paper medical certifications to drivers, and drivers will still be required to provide their license-issuing state with their medical certificate as proof of certification.
FMCSA said it “has reluctantly concluded” that it will not be able to electronically transmit medical examiner’s certificate information from the national registry to state agencies, nor will those agencies be able to electronically receive the information from the national registry for posting to the Commercial Driver’s License Information System.
FMCSA cited an incident that occurred in December 2017 that caused it to take the national registry offline, leading to interruptions in the development of the electronic transmission process.
The agency said delaying the compliance date for three years would “ensure that the (state agencies) have sufficient time once the final specifications are released to make the necessary information technology programming changes.”
The rule also would have removed the requirement that drivers carry a physical copy of their medical certificates beginning 15 days after issuance. That requirement will now remain in effect.
Drivers also are required to self report their certification status to their state licensing agency, a requirement that has been in effect since Jan. 30, 2012.
Public comments
FMCSA is accepting public comment on the rule delay through June 26.
Meanwhile, FMCSA told a major trucking publication recently that although the online registry remains down, health care professionals still can get listed on the registry and licensing agencies and employers are still able to check the validity of medical cards.
FMCSA has yet to identify the nature of the registry breach, nor has it predicted when it might return to functionality.
“FMCSA is ensuring the stability of the National Registry site, the security of the data, and the privacy of drivers and medical examiners,” an agency spokeswoman said in a statement. “This is of paramount concern.”
