Home Forums Discussions General Discussion New CDL Certification Requirements

The USDOT has determined that physicians are no longer qualified to do CDL exams. I do several of these per month and this is a foolish assertion! They want us to have a special training program completed and a certification exam. Has anyone heard about offerings for this? My guess is most of the doctors will just quit doing them.

http://www.aafp.org/news-now/government-medicine/20120620fmcsaregistry.html

Another step in the devaluation of physicians scope. Medicine continues to slide.

It is just another way to suck more $$ out of us. If we don't do them, who will? The certification is about $800 I think. Will np's and pa 's be able to be certified for a lower price? I'm wondering if interstate commerce will come to a screeching halt when there is suddenly no one with a CDL and no one doing them.

Last I heard only 3 providers for the whole state here are "CERTIFIED". I went on to the official website and only one provider listed for the 4th largest state in land area with 144,552 square miles.

Well, I went to the link and it does say that NPs and PAs will be able to be certified to do the exams. I think that's what they are aiming for...the midlevels who may be willing to do it and assuming that they will charge less. Or be willing to be reimbursed less if it is a reimbursable item from insurance. I am unfamiliar with the DOT exams, but this is what is sounds like. There is also the issue of perhaps some examiners just "rubber stamping" people. There were a couple of comments from Drs who mentioned people they knew they would not certify due to medical conditions who were certified by someone else. It was also implied that most doctors doing this exam would know of cases of this.

But I really don't think they believe you need a course to learn how to do this properly. The requirements are on the form. I think that they do not wish to say the real reason for this. I it may very well be because of the "rubber stamping." If the see or forsee a problem, bureaucracies tend to only think of "more regulation!"

The real reason appears to be that "physician educators" need jobs.
Also that bureaucracies have an inherent tendency to grow, and of course, to promulgate new regulations.

We have until next April to "certify", I think.
In my area, I have to travel to an obscure area almost 200 miles north to some "training site" in a shopping center, then go to an "examination site" in a different shopping center. At least, it appears it can all be done in one day!

Both the "training" and the "examination" organizations are private corporations -- for a program that the GOVERNMENT thinks is so important.

Oh...another jobs program....on our backs. Good thing I got new knees.

I have decided not to bother, but my partner and our PA's who do a fair amount of occupational medicine are in the process. The online training program is VERY time consuming, and they have to go to Anchorage ( about 400 miles by road ) to take the test. It is expensive. My partner and I both have certification from the FAA to do pilot's physicals, and this is much more annoying. She has been spending 2 hrs a night plodding through the training for the last couple of weeks. It is online, there is no book that you can just pick up and read quickly. As I overhear it as she does the training, it sounds for all the world like a WWII army training film about the horrors of VD. Over and over.

Having said that, and having done lots of CDL's over the years, and listening in to the training, I must say how badly I was doing them in the eyes of the regulators. I was naive enough to be using common sense as to whether I thought a driver should be on the road. If (and that is a big IF) the medical community really does start to follow the rules exactly, there are going to be a whole lot fewer truck drivers on the road. Many of the Federal Highway regs are a lot more stringent than the FAA rules. (Example.. to get a diabetes waiver, a driver who uses insulin has to have a complete reevaluation done by a board certified endocrinologist every 3 months!! Try that in rural America.)

There are currently only 4 or 5 certified physicians in state. My guess is that we will get close to the deadline, they will realize it is going to be impossible to implement the way they envision, and the whole thing will be delayed, revamped, or scrapped entirely.

I imagine there will be an extreme shortage of "qualified" examiners for these DOT physicals. Seems like a lot of money to put out for very little return.

Just one more thing the government does to make our lives and those of our patients easier....yeah right!

In our area - one can order an online course for $250.00 and complete that and then travel 2-3 hours to take the test -- I believe it costs less than $100 for the test. I agree it is a pain but up until now any DO, MD, ARNP, PA and in some areas DCs could do them - no consistency on how to interpret even the rules on hypertension - bp is one of DOTs very strict rules.....

I believe this is stupid, but one more hoop if you want to do it.

Here we come - google autonomous driving trucks!

(I actually think it'll be safer and save gas money and make the trucking industry more money - run the trucks 24/7)

Just got an email offer for $396 course on line.

Steven--
I have looked in vain for the $250 online course anywhere you or I live.

There is a shopping center course somewhere around Federal Way, but when I recently checked into it, the whole thing was going to be around $800 + day out of the office.

The one I found is online offered by a provider in Washington State - go to WOMA.ORG which is the Washington Osteopathic Medical Association and scroll to the bottom and click on the link for Medical Examiner Course - they are listed as approved provider of training and it is $250.00.

I know nothing of the quality of the education but it meets the requirements - you have to register on the NRCME website to be an examiner, take a course and then travel to take the test at a testing center (computer generated).

What was the course? The cheapest I could find was about $500.

Follow my instructions above - this is home study course - $250.00.

Thanks Steven. The WOMA course is a good deal--$250.
The cost of the taking the test in my area would be $79.
That sounds reasonable.
I would hate to have to give up doing DOT exams. I've been doing them for my patients for years.

I am also going to sign up - have gotten a lot of new patients by doing these in the past - although I have always charged very little for DOT exams.

Hi everyone,

I do not think that I will be seeking certification for this. I do quite a few CDL exams. I have approached these in the same fashion that I practice all other areas of medicine. I believe that common sense and judgment are essential parts of a determination of fitness to drive a truck, just as they are part of determination whether someone needs to be hospitalized, needs to be started on medication for a chronic condition, and so forth. It appears that, increasingly, the requirement that the rules be taken absolutely literally, and probably that the rules become more stringent, is very likely.

I have two concerns. Here is a quote from the AAFP article cited above:

"Additionally, the final rule requires medical examiners to provide copies of medical reports and certificates to the safety agency within 48 hours of a request from enforcement personnel. "This level of responsiveness is required to enable FMCSA to investigate patterns of errors or improper certification by medical examiners," says the final rule."

I think that this means, after a trucker is involved in any type of accident or violation, the medical certification will be looked at very very closely. I suspect that penalties will be assessed, if there is any irregularity or deviation from the federal standards.

Secondly, it is likely that, especially if rules get tighter, many current drivers will no longer be qualified. I, personally, would find it just about impossible to tell someone that I've known for 25 years, who has been a safe driver, and whom I believe is perfectly competent to operate a truck, that he is no longer able to earn a livelihood.

I can easily imagine a situation where diabetics must demonstrate an A1C less than eight. Or that BMI must be below 35. So I would have to tell the guy with A1C of 8.1, or a BMI of 36, that they have to seek other work. Which, in our area, is essentially impossible. If this has to occur, I'd rather be done by the doc in a box, than by me.

Am I being a wimp? Most likely. I just don't see any good whatsoever coming from this.

Gene

I just did a search for certified medical examiners, centered around our zip code. Of the 10 closest certified examiners, six are chiropractors.

Gene

I am not going to be doing the exams either. I do not do that many DOT's now. With the new regs, it seems the liability issues may be greater, and the reimbursement less, especially if you subtract out the cost to get certified. The number of DOT's I do would not even cover the cost of getting certified. I am not growing a practice any more, and would rather spend my time doing other things.
I have already been educating my patients that I am not going to be doing the DOT's in the future. I have not gotten any flack yet, nor do I expect I will, but I am not sure who will be doing the DOT's in our state unless we have more certified providers.

Total agreement.
The certification requirements are draconian and unrealisitic.
Most of my log truck driving patients will not be able to get CDL's if the rules are taken literally, and if there is a wreck (which is not unusual with log trucks)I am sure that the medical examiner will be dragged in somehow -- maybe in a big way.

I'm going to pass on this.

I think certification is mandatory in April