FMCSA’s Medical Review Board to meet June 25-26

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Medical Review Board will conduct a public meeting June 25-26 in Arlington, Va., to finalize their recommendations for the agency’s handbook for certified medical examiners.

“The Medical Review Board will finalize its Task 17-1 recommendations to the agency that it began at its July 2017 meeting on the revision of the agency’s handbook for medical examiners on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners for their use in evaluating interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers for a medical qualification determination,” the FMCSA wrote in its description of the meeting agenda.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be from 9:15 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. EDT on Monday June 25 and Tuesday, June 26 at the FMCSA National Training Center, 1310 N. Courthouse Road in Arlington, Va.

Oral comments from the public will be heard during the meeting at the discretion of the Medical Review Board’s chairman.

FMCSA’s Medical Review Board consists of five medical experts who serve two-year terms. The board is tasked with establishing guidelines for certified medical examiners when conducting Department of Transportation physicals.

During a Medical Review Board meeting in September, OOIDA Director of Federal Affairs Jay Grimes reminded the board that guidance has not gone through the rulemaking process and is not a regulation.

“We make the case overall that as they address the handbook that they really make it clear the difference between regulation and guidance,” Grimes said in September. “The formatting throughout the handbook can be very confusing, because it provides different notes and reminders that can certainly be interpreted as regulation, but they’re not.”