FMCSA issues advisory about national registry website

April 16, 2018

Mark Schremmer

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The FMCSA’s National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners website has been under construction for more than four months since its security was breached on Dec. 1. While the agency has answered few questions about the hack, the FMCSA issued an advisory about the national registry’s functionality on April 13.

“FMCSA is ensuring the stability of the national registry site, the security of the data, and the privacy of drivers and medical examiners,” the FMCSA wrote. “This is of paramount concern.”

The national registry website provides commercial motor vehicle drivers with a list of certified medical examiners who can conduct Department of Transportation physicals.

There are more than 58,000 certified medical examiners on the registry, the FMCSA said.

Medical examiners, who were certified before the hack, have been able to continue conducting DOT physicals and issuing medical certificates (Form MCSA-5876) to qualified drivers. However, the outage has created a tremendous backlog of examination results that are waiting to be uploaded.

The backlog created in the past four-and-a-half months is estimated to be more than 1.2 million exams.

Drivers, who are looking for a certified medical examiner, can search by ZIP code or registry number. Before scheduling an appointment, truck drivers can also use the OOIDA website to read reviews on certified medical examiners.

FMCSA hasn’t provided a timeline for when it expects the registry website to be fully functional.

“FMCSA and DOT will continue to work to address these issues as the website is brought fully back online,” the agency wrote.