FMCSA Streamlines Process Allowing Individuals with Properly Managed Diabetes to Operate Commercial Motor Vehicle

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a final rule revising federal regulations permitting individuals with a stable insulin regimen and properly controlled insulin-treated diabetes to be qualified to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. This rule is important to petroleum marketers because it eliminates the annual administrative and cost burdens the exemption application process places on drivers. Instead, the rule enables a certified medical examiner (ME) to grant a CDL driver with diabetes a "Medical Examiner's Certificate" for up to 12 months. The driver's treating physician provides a diabetes assessment form to the certified ME indicating that the individual maintains a stable insulin regimen and proper control of his or her diabetes. The certified ME is then responsible for determining if the individual meets FMCSA's physical qualification standards and can operate CMVs in interstate commerce.

The final rule will eliminate the exemption program that currently requires individuals with diabetes to incur recurring costs to renew and maintain their exemptions. The FMCSA estimates this will save the nearly 5,000 drivers with diabetes that currently have exemptions more than $5 million per year. The final rule will also save new diabetes exemption applicants and their employers approximately $215,000 annually in opportunity and compliance costs related with the exemption program's waiting period.

A copy of the final rule announced today is available here.

Click on this link to learn more about FMCSA's Medical Program Division.