States begin implementing new federal requirements for CDL medical certification

With the compliance date approaching regarding federal medical certification requirements, some states have already begun operating under new regulations.

Originally published to the Federal Register by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in April 2015, the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration final rule set out to accomplish two things.

First, the final rule would require medical examiners who perform U.S. Department of Transportation physicals to report the results to FMCSA “by midnight (local time) of the next calendar day following the examination.”

Additionally, the final rule would allow for FMCSA to “electronically transmit driver identification, examination results and restriction information from examinations … to the state driver’s licensing agencies,” eliminating the need for drivers to physically present a medical examiner’s certificate to their state’s licensing agency.

Since being published in 2015, provisions to the final rule have been delayed twice – once in June 2018 and again in April 2021 – postponing the compliance date to this June 23.

The most recent delay, according to FMCSA, was to allow the agency “time to complete certain information technology system development tasks for its National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners and to provide the state driver’s licensing agencies sufficient time to make the necessary IT programming changes when the new National Registry system is completed and available.”

Once the final rule is in effect, CDL holders will no longer need to carry a physical copy of their medical certification card on their person. But drivers should continue to carry a paper copy until the June 23 compliance date.

With the compliance date now roughly two months away, a handful of states have already begun operating under the new medical certification regulations.  

In March, the Texas Department of Public Safety began implementing the requirements allowing for electronic transmission of medical certificates from the National Registry. While the state is already set up for the new streamlined system, CDL holders will still be allowed to submit a paper copy of their medical certificate ahead of the June 23 compliance date.

Similarly, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Administration has begun accepting medical examiner certificates electronically from the National Registry and no longer accepts cards directly from CDL holders. Drivers are still required to provide the agency with a self-certification status relating to the type of commerce in which they engage.