The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a final rule that will allow certified medical examiners to decide whether truck drivers with a stable insulin regimen and properly controlled insulin-treated diabetes are qualified to operate commercial motor vehicles. The rule eliminates a previous requirement that the drivers seek an exemption from the agency before being allowed to get behind the wheel, a process that can take up to six months.
The action removes major administrative and financial burdens for diabetic drivers while maintaining a high level of safety, the agency said.
The final rule will allow medical examiners to issue a driver with diabetes a one-year medical certification. The driver’s treating clinician, which is the healthcare professional who manages, and prescribes insulin for, the treatment of the individual’s diabetes, provides a form to the certified medical examiner indicating that the individual maintains a stable insulin regimen and proper control of his or her diabetes.
The certified medical examiner is then responsible for determining if the individual meets FMCSA’s physical qualification standards and can safely operate a commercial motor vehicle.
“This final action delivers economic savings to affected drivers and our agency, and streamlines processes by eliminating unnecessary regulatory burdens and redundancy,” FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez said in a statement. “It’s a win-win for all parties involved.”
The agency estimates eliminating the exemption process will save the nearly 5,000 individuals with diabetes that currently have exemptions more than $5 million per year compared to what they would endure under the exemption program. The final rule also will save new exemption applicants and their associated motor carriers approximately $215,000 annually in opportunity and compliance costs related to the exemption program’s waiting period, FMCSA said.
As an agency, FMCSA said it will save more than $1 million per year over the next three years in costs associated with administering the diabetes exemption program.
The final rule will become effective 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
