National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners

United States Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Docket No. FMCSA – 2008-0363 RIN 2126—AA 97 Comments of the American Bus Association And The Bus Industry Safety Council On the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners January 30, 2009 The American Bus Association (ABA) and the Bus Industry Safety Council (BISC) appreciates this opportunity to comment on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (hereinafter "FMCSA" or "Agency") Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the above entitled proceeding. The ABA is the premier private bus industry trade association. The ABA is home to some 3800 member companies and organizations and approximately 800 bus operator companies. The bus operator members provide all manner of transportation services to the public, including fixed route scheduled service, charter and tour, airport shuttle and commuter services. The Bus Industry Safety Council (BISC) is the ABA supported council composed of the safety, security and maintenance chiefs of many ABA bus operator members. BISC exists for the purpose of examining government and private industry proposals which BISC determines implicates the safety and security of over-the-road bus (OTRB) operations, maintenance and passenger comfort. BISC discharges its duties by referring all such proposals to one or more of several BISC committees for the committees' review and discussion. Thereafter the committees' recommendations are submitted to BISC and then to the initiator of the proposal. Following this procedure the NPRM has been reviewed by the BISC Human Performance and the Government Review Committees ("Committees") and the committees' conclusions form the core of these comments. As this recitation of structure of ABA and BISC demonstrate, ABA and its member companies are fully committed to safety. This commitment is also demonstrated by the exemplary safety record of the private bus industry. It should also be noted that on several occasions senior FMCSA officials have commented on and commended the safety record of the private bus industry. ABA's commitment to safety also led the association and the council to be early champions of a national medical registry that would allow the public to find qualified medical personnel to conduct medical examinations for commercial motor vehicle drivers. ABA and BISC then fully support the establishment of the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME) as notice in the Federal Register at 73 Fed. Reg. 73219 (December 1, 2008). As given in the NPRM, the NRCME would require interstate drives of CMVs "who are required by the FMCSRs to receive medical examinations to obtain them from examiners listed on the NRCME" (73 Fed. Reg. 73131). While ABA and BISC support the establishment of the NRCME the organizations do have some concerns with aspects of the proposal and its implementation and wish to make those concerns known to the agency. First, in setting forth the major elements of the proposal the NPRM suggests that the medical examiner certification testing (73 Fed. Reg. 73133) include a requirement that applicants for the medical registry provide certain information "such as the applicant's medical profession, State medical license or certificate number, business address…and medical examiner training provider. In addition…provide several statements that the applicant is capable and willing to comply with FMCSA requirements…and training." ABA and BISC ask the agency to also consider requiring applicants to provide letters of recommendation from professional colleagues and associations to which the applicant is a member. ABA and BISC suggest that these letters of recommendation provide information relevant to the applicant's professional competence as well as the applicant's honesty and abilities. Second, the NPRM proposes that a m…