PIA - National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (National Registry) - Updated

The National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (National Registry) was developed and implemented under the authority of Section 4116(a) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (codified at 49 U.S.C. § 31149). The program is managed and maintained by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) require that commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers comply with physical qualification requirements and be examined and certified by a medical examiner (ME) at least once every two years. The National Registry program ensures that MEs who perform DOT driver medical examinations are properly trained and certified by FMCSA to do so. The program will maintain personally identifiable information (PII) for each ME candidate applying for ME certification, MEs’ administrative personnel who are registering on the National Registry, and of CMV drivers examined by a certified ME. FMCSA published a final rule on April 20, 2012 (77 FR 73129), to establish and maintain a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. FMCSA posted a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) of the final rule on the DOT privacy program website on August 20, 2012.

FMCSA published the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on May 10, 2013 (78 FR 24104), a follow-on rule to the National Registry final rule. This NPRM proposes to require MEs to use a new Medical Examination Report (MER) Form, MCSA-5875; Medical Examiner’s Certificate (MEC), Form MCSA-5876; more frequent reporting of CMV driver medical examinations; FMCSA to electronically transmit Commercial Driver’s License ( CDL) and Commercial Learner’s Permit (CLP) driver information, from the National Registry system, to the State Driver Licensing Agencies (SDLAs); and electronically transmit medical variance information for all CMV drivers to the SDLAs.

Reason for the PIA Update

This PIA is being published as an update to the previous National Registry PIA (August, 20, 2012) and in support of the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration NPRM. Any changes that have been made to the previously published National Registry PIA language are for clarification purposes only. In conjunction with this update, FMCSA published the Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration NPRM that proposes changes to require:

1. Certified MEs performing medical examinations on CMV drivers to use a newly developed MER Form, MCSA-5875, in place of the current MER Form.
2. Certified MEs to use Form MCSA-5876 for the MEC.
3. Certified MEs to report results of all completed drivers’ medical examinations (including the results of examinations where the driver was found not to be qualified) to FMCSA by close of business day on the day of the examination.  This would include all CMV drivers who are required to be medically certified to operate in interstate commerce, not only those who hold or apply for CDLs or CLPs.
4. FMCSA to electronically transmit driver identification, examination results, and restriction information, from the National Registry system, to the SDLAs for holders of CDLs and CLPs.  This includes those that have been voided by FMCSA because it finds that an ME has certified a driver who does not meet the physical certification standards.
5. FMCSA to electronically transmit medical variance information (exemptions, skills performance evaluation certificates and grandfathered exemptions) for all CMV drivers to the SDLAs.

In connection with this PIA update, the National Registry System of Record Notice (SORN), published on August 20, 2012 (72 FR 24247), will be updated accordingly.