This week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published 3 notices in the Federal Register all addressing the commercial driver medical examination. The first 2 notices are related directly to medical guidance provided to medical examiners. The 3rd notice addresses the need for Medical Examiners to use login.gov to access the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME) or be removed from the list of certified examiners.
On Friday, January 19, 2024, FMCSA published in the Federal Register a notice they were updating the Medical Advisory Criteria found in Appendix A of 49 CFR Part 391. The updated Medical Advisory Criteria replaces all previous versions and is effective January 19, 2024.
On Monday, January 22 FMCSA entered in the register that they have a brand new 2024 version of the Medical Examiner's Handbook (MEH). In 2022 FMCSA issued a draft of their MEH which filled the gap created when they discontinued the use of the handbook in 2015. FMCSA requested comments from the public on the 2022 draft of the MEH and the 2024 version was revised based on comments received. Highlights of the revision include:
The 2024 edition of the MEH replaces all previous handbook editions and the guidance is effective January 22, 2024.
According to FMCSA both the MEH and Appendix to 49 CFR Part 391 are guidance documents and should not be considered regulatory documents.
On January 24, 2024, FMCSA published in the Federal Register a notice stating all NRCME medical examiners must use login.gov to access their National Registry account. FMCSA first communicated to examiners on June 22, 2018, of the security requirement to use login.gov. FMCSA states there are 92,625 examiners listed on NRCME and 76,898 are using login.gov to access their account. There are 15,727 Medical Examiners who have not used login.gov to access their NRCME account. Examiners who fail to use login.gov to access NRCME on or before February 23.2024 will be removed from the National Register by FMCSA.