Today the United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) formally made the anticipated announcement of which rumor had circulated in the regulatory community for the last several days.  FMCSA offered a “grace period” of 120 days regarding mandatory use of the new Medical Examination Report (MER) (Federal Form MCSA-5875) and Medical Examination Certificate (MEC) (Federal Form MCSA-5876).  This grace period will allow the use of either the older (current) or the new forms, effective from the previously announced mandatory compliance date of December 22^nd, 2015, until the end of the new window on April 20^th, 2016.  FMCSA states that this period is intended to allow users, especially Medical Examiners, to become familiar with the new forms and to allow time for programming electronic medical records systems. FMCSA intends to publish this change in the Federal Register on Monday, December 21^st, 2015.

Here is a link to the prospective Federal Register Notice announcing the grace period:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/federal-register-notice-use-of-driver-examination-forms-121815.pdf

Here is a link to further guidance on the form itself:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/medical/driver-medical-requirements/medical-applications-and-forms#sthash.pXOiLkjd.dpuf

Here is a link to FMCSA’s website:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/

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