The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an interim final ruleon June 18 that delays several provisions of its Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration final rule from taking effect for three full years, from June 22, 2018, to June 22, 2021.

The agency said this has been done to give it “additional time to complete certain information technology (IT) system development tasks” for its National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners and to provide State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLAs) sufficient time to make the necessary IT programming changes after upgrades to the National Registry.

The interim final rule requires that through June 21, 2021:

Certified Medical Examiners

• Continue issuing the original paper Medical Examiner's Certificate, Form MCSA-5876 to all qualified drivers, including Commercial Learner’s Permit/Commercial Driver’s License applicants/holders.

Commercial Learner’s Permit/Commercial Driver’s License Applicants/Holders

• Continue providing the SDLA a copy of their Medical Examiner's Certificate, Form MCSA-5876.

• Continue carrying their Medical Examiner’s Certificate, Form MCSA-5876 as proof of medical certification for the first 15 days following certification. 

Motor Carriers

• Continue verifying that drivers were certified by a certified Medical Examiner listed on the National Registry.

State Driver’s Licensing Agencies

• Continue processing paper copies of Medical Examiner’s Certificates, Form MCSA-5876 they receive from Commercial Learner’s Permit/Commercial Driver’s License applicants/holders.

“The interim final rule does not change the requirement for medical examiners to report results of all commercial motor vehicle driver physical examinations performed (including the results of examinations where the driver was found not to be qualified) to FMCSA by midnight (local time) of the next calendar day following the examination,” the agency stated. FMCSA stressed that the compliance date for this provision remains June 22, 2018.  

FMCSA also said it will announce “when the function is restored that allows medical examiners to report results of examinations conducted.” Until that time, medical examiners should segregate all examinations completed during the National Registry outage and be prepared to upload them to the National Registry system when it is back online, with no penalties,” the agency added. 

Related: Carriers and Drivers Express Concern with Medical Examiner Registry