Webinar Replay #92: FMCSA Medical Certification Reporting Changes Effective June 23, 2026

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Steve Kessler: Good morning. Everyone. Welcome to the INFINITI. Fast Forward Webinar Series.

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Steve Kessler: We’re very happy that you all have taken some time to join us today.

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Steve Kessler: My name’s Steve Kessler, and I’m going to host the program today.

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Steve Kessler: We have some pretty important information to pass on. I think that’s obvious by the number of people that registered for this webinar today, we’re going to talk about some changes coming to the medical certification reporting process

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Steve Kessler: something that’s soon to go into effect.

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Steve Kessler: So we’ve decided to bring in our best expert to do that, we have Brandon Wiseman from Trucksafe, and they’re all about dot compliance.

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Steve Kessler: But before we kind of kick things off. Let me pass on a few housekeeping items. Obviously, we can’t hear you. Everybody is muted. So, if you have a question or comment, feel free to use the chat feature there to

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Steve Kessler: ask a question or pass on a comment. You could also use the little Q&A box down there if you choose.

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Steve Kessler: So, if you want to communicate with us, that’s going to be the best way to do it. We’re going to try to go through the presentation, because we’re going to touch on some Q. And A at the very end of the presentation that may answer some of the questions that I’m sure you all are going to have.

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Steve Kessler: So, we’ll try to hold the questions toward the end. We try to keep this program to about an hour, so just be mindful of that. If we don’t get everybody’s questions answered, we’ll do our best to reach out to you and try to answer those for you.

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Steve Kessler: By the way, why don’t you all just jump on the chat and let us know who you are and who you’re with, and where you’re from. So, we kind of have an idea who’s out there this morning, and while y’all are doing that, let me introduce Mark Ray. Mark’s my co-host here. If you all have joined our webinars in the past. Mark’s an industry veteran at an executive level.

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Steve Kessler: He’s a certified director of safety, still holds a CDL. And it is involved in a lot of advisory capacities in a bunch of different organizations around the country.

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Steve Kessler: So

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Steve Kessler: our guest today, I think probably a lot of you may know Brandon Brandon is the owner and president of Trucksafe Consulting.

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Steve Kessler: He’s a transportation attorney and a partner with Childress Law

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Steve Kessler: and Brandon. His organization has assisted some of the nation’s leading motor carriers in developing and maintaining compliant and cutting-edge safety programs. He has also represented carriers of all types and sizes before the FMCSA. On matters such as safety rating, upgrades, and civil penalty proceedings

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Steve Kessler: through his consulting company. Brandon now offers carriers, state-of-the-art compliance resources, and regulatory training materials that cover a wide range of safety-related topics.

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Steve Kessler: and Brandon’s also a regular speaker at industry events, and a contributor to several industry publications. So, we’re very happy to have an expert on this today. So, Brandon, with that, I’ll let you take it away, sir.

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Brandon Wiseman: Well, thanks, Steve, and Mark, and all the INFINITI folks really appreciate the opportunity to join you once again, and, thanks to everybody who tuned in today like Steve, said big crowd. So, the topic seems to be a popular one among folks, for obvious reasons. It’s 1 that you know, has a deadline coming up, or an implemented implementation date, I should say. And so, from my vantage point, I’ve seen a lot of

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Brandon Wiseman: confusion over what exactly is changing a lot of

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Brandon Wiseman: misinformation out there. So hopefully, we will be able to clear up some of that today throughout this presentation.

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Brandon Wiseman: And, as Steve said, as we go along. If you have any questions, throw them in the Q. And A. Box, and we’ll try and get to them at the end. We’ve got an FAQ. Section at the end. So, we are in the work that we do for fleets. We have already gotten and fielded a ton of questions on this topic. So, I’ve kind of gathered those into an FAQs that we will discuss at the end, so that they may address some of them, but certainly drop them there in the Q. And a box if you get them, and we’ll spend some time on that as well.

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Brandon Wiseman: I think the best way to tackle this is to set 1st Level here with some regulatory backdrop. Why are things changing when it comes to medical certification. The process for CDL drivers to get medically certified, and how that information

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Brandon Wiseman: gets exchanged with their state driver’s licensing agency. That’s essentially what is changing. But I think it’s important. We 1st look at why things are changing. What prompted these changes. So, we’ll spend a little time here with the backdrop.

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Brandon Wiseman: and then we’ll move into a discussion of what exactly is changing, and when and then we’ll talk about what is not changing. That’s where a lot of confusion seems to stem, at least from my perspective.

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Brandon Wiseman: and then I’ll offer you some of my recommendations for what they’re worth. Some of the things that I can envision going wrong if

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Brandon Wiseman: if things don’t play out as expected, I’ll offer some tips there and then we’ll end up with those frequently asked questions before we open it up for more broad questions. So that’s how we’ll tackle it. So, looking first, then at the regulatory backdrop against which these changes are happening.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, as most of you are

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Brandon Wiseman: hopefully familiar, the FMCSA. And its predecessors, the agencies that regulate interstate trucking and intrastate trucking to some extent we’ll get to that a little bit later.

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Brandon Wiseman: have long required that regulated drivers be physically qualified to operate the vehicles that they operate, and for good reason. Obviously.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, when we’ve got drivers out there operating up to potentially 80,000 pound or more vehicles on our nation’s highways, we want to make sure they’re not going to incur disabling medical condition while they’re on the road and end up causing a catastrophic accident. So, for that reason, dating back to, you know, almost a century at this point. The

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Brandon Wiseman: motor carrier safety regulations as they exist now, and as they have existed in the past, have contained some type of physical qualification standards, minimum qualification standards for drivers as they are now. These are codified in Part 3 91 of the Federal motor carrier safety regulations, which is where you’ll find all the

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Brandon Wiseman: driver qualification requirements for interstate, federally regulated commercial drivers.

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Brandon Wiseman: those rules, the physical qualification standards, like other components of the FMCSRs, have changed here and there over the years

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Brandon Wiseman: we saw the most significant change to the physical qualification standards. Back in 2014.

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Brandon Wiseman: You may remember this if you were, you know, around in a, you know, safety or compliance type role.

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Brandon Wiseman: Back, then. But this is when the FMCSA. Took the actions to stand up what is called the National Registry of Medical Examiners, and this was an initiative that was kind of spurred by some rampant fraud that we had in the industry, and still have to some extent, unfortunately, which was, you know, drivers or nefarious carriers or other actors in the industry, trying to get around these physical standards in essence by

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Brandon Wiseman: in various ways, namely, falsifying their Med cards so that it looked like they. The drivers were physically qualified. They would, you know, manufacture a doctor’s name, or and they would just write themselves a Med. Card, and they would present that to the carrier. So, to get a hold of that issue, and to hopefully alleviate or get rid of it from the industry. The FMCSA. Stood up. This kind of central database of

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Brandon Wiseman: certified medical examiners, the doctors and the chiropractors and the physicians, assistants, and others who perform these medical exams. They must be registered with this national registry of medical examiners, and

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Brandon Wiseman: to be qualified under the qualification standards of Part 391, a regulated driver must go visit with one of those certified medical examiners on a certain cadence at most, or at least every 2 years.

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Brandon Wiseman: and, as many of you will know, sometimes just kind of depends on the driver’s health conditions. It could be even more frequent than that depending on.

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Brandon Wiseman: If they got high blood pressure. They’re going to have to go more regularly to these certified medical examiners and go through the, you know, the physical examination process and then be issued essentially a certification that they meet these physical qualification standards. So, we rely on these medical professionals who are now certified in the FMCSA’s National Registry of Medical Examiners to perform these physical examinations of our population of regulated drivers, and then to

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Brandon Wiseman: issue those drivers the certification that they need as evidence that they are physically qualified. Now, it’s that certification process.

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Brandon Wiseman: the manner in which drivers are certified and that their certification is published to those who need to know about their certifications. That’s what’s changing, effective at the end of this month, June of 2026.

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Brandon Wiseman: But it’s not as if this is something that has just sprung up on us. This was planned for. This upcoming change which we’re about to get into was the original design that was implemented back in 2014, and in 2015, when the FMCSA. 1st stood up the National Registry. They had originally envisioned this process that we’re about to have.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, in 2015, you may also recall FMCSA. In addition to standing up that national registry. This is when they also standardized the Med. Cards that the drivers get that regulated drivers are issued as proof that they are medically certified.

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Brandon Wiseman: Before 2015. The specific form on which those medical exams or certifications had to be documented could vary from doctor-to-doctor State to State, but in 2015 FMCSA. Standardized that. And so now all regulated drivers are issued a particular form, and it’s right there listed in the 3rd bullet point

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Brandon Wiseman: form, FMCSA, 5,875, which is what we locally refer to as a long form, physical examination form, and then also the FMCSA 5,876, which we call our Med Cards, or Medical Examiner certificates. Nowadays.

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Brandon Wiseman: These are you know, the Mec. The medical examiner certificate is the little card that the drivers have been carrying with them typically

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Brandon Wiseman: for many years. Now this is what they usually have with them in the trucks, as proof that they are physically qualified that they turn over to officers when they are stopped for roadside inspections that they give to you as motor carriers to keep in their driver qualification files. We’re familiar with this process now, having lived with it for about 10 years, right?

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Brandon Wiseman: And so, since 2015, that Med card has served as the standardized proof of a regulated driver’s physical qualification.

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Brandon Wiseman: Now, the transmission of these certification results has since 2015 been a little bit different for CDL drivers versus non-CDL drivers.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, if you’re a mixed fleet that has both CDL and non-CDL drivers. You’re probably painfully familiar with the distinction between the 2 when it comes to how the results from their physical examinations are handled. So, for CDL. Drivers. Again, since 2015

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Brandon Wiseman: the rulemaking had originally envisioned an electronic transmission of that CDL driver’s physical examination results from the medical examiner, the doctor, or whoever’s performing the medical exam to the National Registry, that centralized database that FMCSA. It has been set up for all medical examiners, and then from that registry to the state driver’s licensing agency.

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Brandon Wiseman: It has envisioned that type of process, that type of electronic process since 2,015.

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Brandon Wiseman: But and this is the big. But

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Brandon Wiseman: that process has been delayed several times over the past decade, due primarily to

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Brandon Wiseman: technology issues, and even more specifically issues with state drivers, licensing agencies getting their act together to get a system in place that can accommodate this type of electronic transmission of these physical exam results. So, considering those technological difficulties. The FMCSA. Has had to make some concessions. They have had to delay

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Brandon Wiseman: this electronic process, and they have had to allow temporarily the process that we are now familiar with for the last decade, which is an interim step.

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Brandon Wiseman: And so, as it stands currently, this is the current process. In most states, I will make a caveat here to say that some States

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Brandon Wiseman: have already implemented this electronic system and have been using it for a while. Texas is one example. And so, if you’re in a state that has been doing this for a while, then maybe nothing is changing. But I’ll point out some things that probably still will be changing for you. Here comes the end of June, but

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Brandon Wiseman: the in general, that process, if your State has already adopted a system like this, the general process won’t be changing. But for most states in the country

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Brandon Wiseman: they have not adopted that system yet. And so, this will be a significant change. But here’s how it has been working over the past 10 years or so for CDL drivers. Only remember there’s a difference between CDL and Non CDL drivers. I’ll talk about non CDL drivers here in a minute.

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Brandon Wiseman: But for CDL drivers, specifically, the regulations currently require medical examiners to issue those drivers. Physical med cards those that form that I mentioned.

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Brandon Wiseman: and for the CDL. Drivers to physically take those med cards to their state driver’s licensing agency. Once they get it too, they associate that certification with their driver’s record.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, if I’m a CDL driver, I get medically certified by a certified medical examiner. I must physically get that card, take it to my state driver’s licensing agency and make sure it gets associated with my license.

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Brandon Wiseman: And then the second part of. That is, then my employers. So, any employers, motor carriers of CDL drivers

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Brandon Wiseman: they can accept from that driver that physical Med. Card as proof that that driver is physically qualified. But here’s the catch. And this is something that still, even after 10 years, motor carriers in my experience still struggle with understanding. And it’s not surprising, because this is tucked away in the regulations if you dig in there.

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Brandon Wiseman: But the regulations say that getting that physical Med card from your CDL. Drivers are fine, but it’s only fine for a period of 15 days after that Med. Card was issued.

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Brandon Wiseman: and that’s proof that they are medically certified, but only for 15 days. So, what happens after 15 days? Well, the regulations currently say that after 15 days have elapsed since the date that the driver was issued. That Med. Card you, as their employing motor carrier, are supposed to be currently

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Brandon Wiseman: running a new motor vehicle report MVR. On those drivers and making sure that they had done what they were required to do, take it to the State, and that the State associates it with their license. So, when you run that new MVR

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Brandon Wiseman: ideally. What you see is that new medical information matching up with the physical Med card that they have, and then that

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Brandon Wiseman: MVR. That you run is now your proof that that driver is medically qualified. That’s how it’s supposed to run. Currently we call these 15-day MVRs. Colloquially.

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Brandon Wiseman: and what we find is that when we do our assessments for our motor carrier clients and when we’re helping motor carriers through real dot audits, we find that a lot of carriers are not doing these 15-day MVRs for CDL. Drivers. They don’t know that it’s a thing they’re just running their annual MVRs. And they don’t realize that every time one of their CDL drivers gets a new Med card nowadays, they’re supposed to run a new MVR. Within 15 days of that.

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Brandon Wiseman: in addition to that annual MVR. That they’re running. So, this is a big gap for a lot of motor carriers. And hopefully, with these changes, I’m about to talk about. We will get away from that gap, and we’ll have fewer of those violations. But in my own

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Brandon Wiseman: anecdotal experience that runs a lot of carriers into trouble in the context of a dot audit. So, but anyway, that’s how the process works currently

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Brandon Wiseman: for CDL drivers. Now, what about non CDL drivers. I mentioned that the process is different.

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Brandon Wiseman: Well, the process is different in the sense that non CDL drivers like CDL drivers again. And I’m talking about regulated drivers. So, these are drivers subject to the Federal motor carrier safety regulations, which generally for property carriers, include drivers of vehicles or combinations that exceed 10,000 pounds. If we’re talking about a property carrier so not very difficult to exceed that weight threshold.

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Brandon Wiseman: and, to drivers involved in intrastate commerce, who are subject to their state’s adoption of these qualification rules, and most states in the country have adopted them.

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Brandon Wiseman: Just the question is, at what weight threshold in the state. But the point is here.

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Brandon Wiseman: The process for non CDL drivers is that they still must be physically qualified, and they still must be examined by a certified medical examiner, and they, too, are issued a physical medical examiner certificate, a Med. Card.

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Brandon Wiseman: and they must provide a copy of that to their employing motor carrier to keep in their DQ file and keep a copy of that on with them while they’re operating their commercial motor vehicle. So, the difference there between them and CDL drivers is that there’s not that MVR component that’s required for non CDL regulated drivers. If you’re a non CDL fleet. You can ignore that discussion that I just had about the MVRs. Your proof

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Brandon Wiseman: that your non CDL regulated drivers are physically qualified is their physical Med card that they present to you, and that you keep a copy of that in their driver file. So that’s the big difference. Currently.

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Brandon Wiseman: many problems with this interim approach to how we handle medical certification have arisen over the last 10 years. I’ve already mentioned this 1st one, which is that many carriers are unaware of that 15-day MVR. Requirement, and that’s leading to critical level violations in audits and potentially leading them to downgraded safety ratings. I’ve lost count of how many fleets I’ve helped, that have that have encountered that issue

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Brandon Wiseman: and have found out the hard way that that is a requirement.

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Brandon Wiseman: Some other problems that are present. With this interim process.

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Brandon Wiseman: drivers failing to take their Med cards to their state driver’s licensing agency, they get the new Med card, and they think they’re good to go, but that’s of course, not the end of the process. As I mentioned, they’re supposed to take that to their licensing agency, and for whatever reason they don’t.

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Brandon Wiseman: Maybe they’re busy and they can’t get to the licensing agency. Maybe the licensing agency is backed up. Whatever the rationale is, a lot of drivers just fail to get there. And then they and I’m talking CDL drivers specifically. Again, non CDL drivers don’t have to do that process.

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Brandon Wiseman: but CDL drivers, failing to take it to their state driver’s licensing agency, then just ends up with that new medical information not getting associated with their license with their driving record, and then the State initiates a downgrade of their CDL. Because they think that their medical exam has expired.

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Brandon Wiseman: And so, what we end up with.

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Brandon Wiseman: Not only are problems in audits, but also problems roadside for these drivers and the motor carriers that employ them, because the way that that plays out is for whatever reason the new medical examination doesn’t get uploaded to that driver’s record. State initiates actions to downgrade their CDL to a standard operator’s license driver doesn’t find out about it, or he finds out about it and ignores it, and he continues to drive.

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Brandon Wiseman: and then inevitably, once he or she gets stopped for roadside inspection. The office is going to very quickly. See that, hey? Their CDL. It is downgraded, and they’re not authorized to operate this truck now they’re placed out of service roadside, and that jacks up your driver fitness score. If you are a motor carrier with CSA scores.

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Brandon Wiseman: and then also not to mention the problem that we have with several States being slow to upload these drivers results, or their new medical examination and associating it with their driving record. This was a huge problem. Early in the process. It still is a lingering problem in many States were

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Brandon Wiseman: the States are just slow to get it uploaded. The driver has done what they are supposed to. They present the new Med card to the State driver’s licensing agency, but then the State Agency takes their sweet time and gets that associated with the record. And then the previous one expires. And then we’re in that same sticky situation. So

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Brandon Wiseman: lots of problems stemming from this current temporary process through which we are transmitting driver examination results. So those problems are in part because we are moving away from that system and to the new system that was envisioned from the start.

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Brandon Wiseman: So that takes us to what exactly is changing. And when

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Brandon Wiseman: so, here’s the date here, highlighted, effective. June 23rd of 2026. This is a date that has been pushed back time and time again. But this is the date that is currently slated for this change, and you know I don’t want to say that

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Brandon Wiseman: it’s not possible that FMCSA. Could push this back even further. But it’s unlikely, in my opinion. At this point we are only a couple weeks out from this, and so you must plan as if this is going to take effect on June 23rd So effective June 23rd, 2026. Here’s what’s changing.

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Brandon Wiseman: We’re going to that process that FMCSA had originally envisioned. Which is that

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Brandon Wiseman: we are taking out the middleman in that transmission process which is the driver. So now, when medical examiners issue a driver, a regulated CDL driver. That’s the important part.

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Brandon Wiseman: When a medical examiner issues a new Med card or medical certification to a CDL driver, they must now electronically upload that result

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Brandon Wiseman: to the National Registry of Medical Examiners.

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Brandon Wiseman: then the National Registry will take the responsibility to notify the appropriate State driver’s licensing agency.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, if the if the driver is domiciled in Indiana, and he gets a new Med. Card that gets uploaded to the National Registry. Then the National Registry is going to alert the Indiana DMV, that that driver has a new medical certification.

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Brandon Wiseman: And then the state driver’s licensing agency is going to take that information that is electronically transmitted to it to update the driver’s CDL record with the new exam details. So, what was missing from that new process is the requirement that that CDL driver physically present that Med. Card to their state driver’s licensing agency.

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Brandon Wiseman: CDL Drivers are no longer effective June 23rd, 2026, Going to have to present their physical med card, either to the carrier or to the state driver’s licensing agencies.

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Brandon Wiseman: So that’s the big change. So, one of the big questions that a lot of fleets have is okay. What’s the timing? How does that play out from a timing perspective?

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Brandon Wiseman: Well, here’s

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Brandon Wiseman: unfortunately, the FMCSA’s rule on this is not as clear as it should be. And so, this is how I read the rule to look, and this is how others read the rules to look, that I that I follow. I think this is how it’s supposed to play out. The last bullet point here on the timing is the one that’s a little confusing if you just go read the rule itself. But I think we have enough evidence from FMCSA. That this is the correct timing.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, 1st of all. What do we know is that effective? June 23rd

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Brandon Wiseman: of 2026. When the medical examiner

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Brandon Wiseman: issues a driver, a CDL driver, a new medical certification. They must upload that result to the National Registry by midnight of the following calendar day.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, if the driver gets the certification on a Friday, then, by midnight of Saturday the Medical Examiner would have to get that uploaded to the National Registry. It’s calendar day.

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Brandon Wiseman: Then, once the National Registry has that information. The FMCSA. Says they will quote unquote promptly, notify the state driver’s licensing agency.

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Brandon Wiseman: We don’t know what promptly means hopefully. It means immediately.

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Brandon Wiseman: I don’t know what would cause a delay in that. If we have systems that are supposed to be talking together, I don’t know, you know, once it gets uploaded to the National Registry. I don’t think it’s going to be required.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, physical eyes from the FMCSA. To look at it and do something about it. It should just exist in the National Registry for the appropriate State Driver’s Licensing Agency to then pull down. I think that’s how it should work. So, the national Registry will promptly notify the appropriate state driver’s licensing agency. And then, once the State Driver’s Licensing agency has that information, they are supposed to within one business day, then update the driver’s record.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, assuming promptly means immediately in that middle bullet point, then, at most.

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Brandon Wiseman: We should have been a process that takes 3 days right? And I say at most, because it would be a weekend issue that would cause it to run into 3 days. Normally it would, it would potentially be 2 days.

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Brandon Wiseman: Right? So, because the state driver’s licensing agency has a business day to get that to get that new exam result associated with that driver’s license. That that’s what would cause the delay if there’s a weekend involved. But note that the medical examiners have a calendar day to get their information up to the national registry.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, here’s the summation of the old process versus the new process, a flow chart, if you will. So, the old process, just to sum this up and to be perfectly clear, the process that we are currently using and have used for the last 10 years. Medical examiner issues a physical Med card to the CDL driver.

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Brandon Wiseman: CDL driver takes the Med card to their state driver’s licensing agency licensing agency updates the driver’s medical certification status on their CDL driving record, and then the carrier runs a new MVR. To verify that that information has indeed been associated with that driver’s license, and the CDL driver keeps a copy of that Med card in their possession. That’s the current process.

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Brandon Wiseman: the new process effective. June 23rd, 2026. Medical examiner uploads the exam results for the CDL driver

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Brandon Wiseman: electronically to the National Registry. By the end of the next Calendar Day

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Brandon Wiseman: National Registry promptly alerts the State driver’s licensing agency of that new driver data. That State licensing agency then updates the CDL driver’s record by the next business day.

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Brandon Wiseman: And then this part’s not changing. The carrier, the employer of that CDL driver, still must run a new MVR. To verify that driver’s

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Brandon Wiseman: status. Physical qualification status they cannot, they can no longer effective. June 23rd Accept a physical copy of that driver’s Med card as proof of their physical qualification status. That’s an important point.

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Brandon Wiseman: Just getting a physical copy of the Med Card from the driver will effective June 23rd Not be sufficient evidence of their physical qualifications. It must be an MVR. That the motor carrier runs. In fact, this is a frequent question we get. It’s in the FAQs. But I’ll go ahead and mention it here. Medical examiners effective. June 23rd is no longer going to be even required to issue CDL drivers a physical Med card any longer.

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Brandon Wiseman: Now, FMCSA Has some guidance to them that says, if the driver requests a physical Med card, they should give it to them.

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Brandon Wiseman: But as a matter of course, the medical examiners are no longer going to issue physical Med cards. It is an electronic process going forward. And so, the important point there is, though, is that even if a driver happens to get a CDL driver happens to get their hands on a physical Med card. That is not sufficient proof of their physical qualifications. It’s the driver’s driving record. That is the official proof that that driver is medically certified to operate.

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Brandon Wiseman: All right. So that’s what’s changing. Well, what’s not changing equally as important as what is changing, what’s not changing the medical exam process for non CDL regulated drivers is not changing.

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Brandon Wiseman: Non-CDL regulated drivers will still be issued. Physical medical examiner certificates, the physical med cards. They still must provide their employer carriers with a copy of those med cards, and they still must carry them on their person when they are operating a commercial motor vehicle and present those to law enforcement as proof that they are medically certified. So, the process is not changing at all for non-CDL regulated drivers.

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Brandon Wiseman: Also. The self-certification process is not changing for CDL drivers. This is the process where, when they’re, you know, getting a new CDL for the 1st time, or renewing an existing CDL. Or upgrading a CDL. Or adding endorsements

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Brandon Wiseman: when they must self-certify their status with their state driver’s licensing agency as either accepted interstate, non-accepted interstate, accepted, intrastate, non-accepted intrastate. They must tell their licensing agency. Essentially, I am operating. Interstate or intrastate and am I accepted from the medical qualification standards or not? They must self-certify themselves. And so that process is not changing at all.

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Brandon Wiseman: Something else that’s not changing is again the fact that carriers, employers of CDL drivers must be running MVRs to check on or to verify the CDL drivers. Medical qualifications.

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Brandon Wiseman: copies of those MVRs need to be kept in their DQ files as proof of those physical qualifications. So, you still have that process. You still have that requirement.

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Brandon Wiseman: It’s just effective. June 23rd You no longer have that interim 15-day period where you can accept just their physical med card as that proof. Now, it’s only the MVR. That will serve as proof. So, you’re probably going to need to put new processes and procedures in place to make sure you’re running those new MVRs, and that you have

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Brandon Wiseman: that MVR. Showing their new medical certification information before the expiration of their last Med card or otherwise, you’re going to have a gap of time there where their old Med card’s expired, and you haven’t yet run a new MVR. And if they’re out there operating in that interim gap of time. Then that’s a violation on your part.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, you need to make sure you are

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Brandon Wiseman: informing your drivers. This is a recommendation I’ll make here in a second, but I’ll say it here. You need to make sure that if you’re a carrier you are informing your drivers of this new change, and that you’re getting them to go get their medical new medical exams, probably even a couple weeks earlier than they would have normally

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Brandon Wiseman: under the current rule. Just to make sure this all plays out, especially starting June 23rd and for the you know.

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Brandon Wiseman: one month, 2 months, 3 months after that implementation date. There’s going to inevitably be some growing pains with this. So, drivers whose med cards expire in that timeframe it’s going to be there’s going to be some trouble so it is best to get them in as soon as possible to get their new Med cards, so that we can avoid issues with this kind of transition period.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, with that said, here are some recommendations for your consideration.

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Brandon Wiseman: Again, 1st and foremost carriers should ensure that their drivers are familiar with the new process and requirements. Again, CDL drivers. Specifically, things are not changing for non CDL drivers. I don’t know if you need to let them know about changes.

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Brandon Wiseman: but for CDL drivers. If you’re a CDL fleet, you need to get some information out to your drivers about what exactly is changing, how the new processes will work, and probably some tips for them to keep in mind, which I’ll get in a second when they are going to get their new

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Brandon Wiseman: medical certification. Some things that they will want to have running through the back of their mind while they’re there physically in front of the medical examiner to think about to avoid potential delays in getting their information uploaded to their State Driver’s Licensing agency.

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Brandon Wiseman: So, whether that’s through a safety meeting or some kind of email blast or communication you send out on their eld doesn’t really matter. Just make sure that you know first that you have your new processes and policies in check, and that you communicate those effectively with your CDL. Population

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Brandon Wiseman: for CDL. Drivers, they should ensure that they schedule their exams well in advance of the current Exam. Or Med card expiration. To allow time for processing again.

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Brandon Wiseman: failing to do so will lead to inevitably violations for operating either an expired med card or worse, a downgraded CDL, because of that Med card. So, this is not a novel issue. This is something they, some drivers, currently experience. I worry, though, that it’s going to do this. This transition period is going to exacerbate the problem a little bit. So, drivers need to be to move forward with caution in that regard.

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Brandon Wiseman: Again, carriers should have processes in place to ensure drivers are renewing their med cards and running the required MVRs in time, so there are no lapses in the driver’s physical qualifications

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Brandon Wiseman: when it comes to providing information, you know, maybe internally, to your safety folks, and then also to your drivers. I’ll note that FMCSA. Has some good fact sheets available. That’s a link. If the INFINITI folks are going to distribute the PowerPoint hopefully, that link will follow through. You could click on it and get access to those fact sheets. You can also just Google FMCSA medical certification changes or something to that effect. And you’ll get to their landing page where you can download those fact sheets.

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Brandon Wiseman: That would be a good source of information.

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Brandon Wiseman: Some other recommendations.

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Brandon Wiseman: These are coming directly from FMCSA’s website, and I think they are good recommendations.

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Brandon Wiseman: CDL. Drivers should ensure that they have any supporting documents that they need with them during their medical examinations. We see this with drivers, with certain medical conditions, the one that seems to come up. The most are drivers with sleep apnea, or.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, high BMIs or neck sizes those that end up

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Brandon Wiseman: needing sleep study as part of their medical qualification process. If they know ahead of time that they’re going to need something like that. They shouldn’t wait until after their dot medical exam to go get those things. They should have them available with them to provide

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Brandon Wiseman: to their dot medical examiner so that there’s not a delay on the back end of things. If they have that stuff with them when they go to the medical examiner. Then they’ll just have it all in place, and the medical examiner can go ahead and issue the medical certification if they feel comfortable with it rather than saying, well, I’m not going to issue your medical certification until you go get a sleep study. Now you have got to go. Drivers got to schedule that, wait on that, and then potentially have a delay of time before they get the Med card that will run them into issues.

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Brandon Wiseman: Drivers should also double check their information, namely, their CDL number that gets written down when they go for their medical examinations, because that CDL number is going to be the key

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Brandon Wiseman: to a smooth transaction. That CDL. Number is the identifier through which the Medical Examiner is going to associate that new medical information via their transmission to the National Registry, and if that CDL number gets miss transcribed on, however, the nurse, or whoever is taking that information down.

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Brandon Wiseman: then that’s inevitably going to lead to problems, and so ideally, the driver would have their CDL right there with them in the medical exam, and then they would cross-reference. However, it was taken down by the medical examiner or their assistant to make sure that no numbers were miss transcribed or anything like that. So that’s a good tip

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Brandon Wiseman: for medical examiners. If there’s any of those listening here, FMCSA. It is recommended that you make copies of the driver’s CDLs when you are doing the medical exams so that we don’t have that mistranscription problem. Take a copy of their CDL, so that if there’s a problem down the road and the information didn’t get transcribed or didn’t get transmitted appropriately, or there’s errors when you try and submit it to the National Registry, then you can look at your copy that you made of their CDL to make sure you got the number right.

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Brandon Wiseman: And then, if a problem does occur, and for whatever reason, the new medical certification information doesn’t get transmitted. Then the FMCSA. Is recommending that carriers and drivers go through this kind of chain of command. Here they say that the 1st thing that they should do is contact the medical examiner that performs the medical examination to make sure that the exam information was in fact transmitted to the National Registry.

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Brandon Wiseman: and that it was transmitted correctly, in other words, that the CDL number matched and everything like that. If it was, then the driver or the carrier should then contact their state driver’s licensing agency to see why the information didn’t get associated with that driver’s

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Brandon Wiseman: driving record. That’s the process of troubleshooting. And then ultimately, if that doesn’t work out. Then the FMCSA. Has set up a help desk for this, judging by

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Brandon Wiseman: judging by other FMCSA. Help desk that they have set up, and the response times that we know from those other help desks. I wouldn’t put much stock or much faith in getting a quick response via this help desk if it were me. But this is the email address that they have set up for problems with this new certification process. This would kind of be a last resort. But again, I wouldn’t put much faith in it. Unfortunately.

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Brandon Wiseman: what we know. So, the FMCSA On that website I mentioned that they set up. They are regularly updating the list of States that have

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Brandon Wiseman: supposedly implemented the things that need to be implemented to effectuate these changes. Come June 23rd This is the list as of today. June 12th, 2026, of states that have a system that will be able to process the results. You may notice that this is only about half the States. There are 26 States on this list, and there are 24 States not on this list.

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Brandon Wiseman: Good news is. This list seems to be growing every day. It has grown by 5 or 6 over the last week since I 1st started looking at this, and so hopefully. That means that the rest of the States will get their act together here in the next week or so.

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Brandon Wiseman: and everybody will be ready to go, but I am not holding my breath on that. Unfortunately. So, we’ll just have to see as I said at the start. Some of these States have been doing this for a while now, and so theirs is ready to go clearly. But some of these other States here are new.

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Brandon Wiseman: and so, their system is probably not tested or vetted. Very well at this point.

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Brandon Wiseman: All right, and then some frequently asked questions, and then I’ll start addressing some of the questions you all have dropped in the in the chat. But some of here are some of the most common questions I’ve been receiving, and some of the answers that I’ve been able to

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Brandon Wiseman: find through FMCSA. Guidance or talking with my FMCSA. Contacts. Number one will CDL. Drivers still be issued. Physical medical examiner certificates med cards after June 23rd

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Brandon Wiseman: The FMCSA’s response is, no, they will not. Unless they specifically ask for them.

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Brandon Wiseman: Remember, we’re transitioning to an electronic process, and so they will not be issued as a matter of course unless the CDL driver asks for them

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Brandon Wiseman: along the similar lines. Must CDL drivers still have their Med cards in their possession. Roadside, and the answer to that is, no. Again, that physical Med card, even if they happen to have it, is no longer definitive proof that that driver is medically qualified. It’s only the driver’s driving record that is proof. So that physical med card is about as valuable as the paper that is written on going forward.

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Brandon Wiseman: Can physical med cards still serve as proof as a driver’s CDL driver’s physical qualifications? No. Again, the exam information on the driver’s record is the only official proof that the driver’s medical certification status is effective. June 23rd and going forward.

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Brandon Wiseman: must carriers still obtain physical med cards from CDL. Drivers going forward? No, again.

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Brandon Wiseman: The official proof of that driver’s medical certification status is the MVR. It is the driving record. So, the carriers must run MVRs as proof that they are medically qualified and then put a copy of that MVR. In their driver qualification file. So that should be a process of yours. In addition to your annual MVRs. That you’re running, you should also have a policy or process in place that anytime a CDL driver gets a new Med. Card.

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Brandon Wiseman: I need to be running an MVR. On that driver and making sure that that new medical information is associated with that driver’s license, and if it’s not.

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Brandon Wiseman: then, unless their old Med card is not yet expired, you can’t use them.

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Brandon Wiseman: so be careful. There, that will run you into big trouble if you don’t do that process appropriately, and then, lastly, must Carrier still verify that the medical examiner is on the national registry. This has been a temporary thing that we have, as motor carriers have been having to do

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Brandon Wiseman: for CDL drivers over the last 10 years. During this interim period, which is, some carriers miss this. Other carriers do a better job at it. But

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Brandon Wiseman: anytime a CDL driver gets a new Med card. You’re supposed to be running a verification that the medical examiner listed on that driver’s Med card is on the National Registry of Medical Examiners by typing in their registry number, and usually most carriers will print off a screen. That shows that that medical examiner is, in fact, on the national Registry. That process will no longer be required, as of June 23rd, 2026, and going forward

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Brandon Wiseman: all right. So that was a lot of information to get through. We have about 15 min left, so we’ll ask some questions here. I’ve seen them kind of going up on the screen. I haven’t watched them, so I’ll let Steve or Mark kind of direct me to the ones that they think I should answer.

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Steve Kessler: Sure. 1st of all, there have been quite a few questions about whether they can get a copy of this PowerPoint there. And I think, Brandon, if it’s okay with you, we’ll make sure we include this with email. We’ll send out to everybody that’s registered

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Steve Kessler: along with the link to the recording of this webinar. So, we’ll try to get you covered with all this information. There have been several questions. I think that I’ve seen about. You know the current process requires the need to check the MVR. After 15 days. Do they now need to do this

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Steve Kessler: after 48 h or.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah, they should do it. There’s no timing period now, but the idea is that once they get a new medical certification, the only valid proof that they are medically qualified is that MVR. And so, assuming you’ve got an old MVR. That shows their old medical certification status if it’s not expired. I think you’re okay. But you should have a process in place that says.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, close to that driver’s expiration date ideally before. But whenever that driver gets a new medical certification, you should be running an MVR. Because then that’s your proof

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Brandon Wiseman: that they are medically certified. If you haven’t done that, then you don’t have any proof other than the driver’s word, which is not worth anything, that he has a new Med card. And again, that physical med card that they may give to you is not

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Brandon Wiseman: official proof of their certification status going forward so that MVR. Is crucial. And so, you’re going to want to run as quickly as possible after they get that new medical certification.

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Steve Kessler: And then I know there have been questions that need that. MVR. Then needs to go in the driver’s DQ File.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah. Yes.

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Steve Kessler: Okay, is there any kind of a grace period that’s been put out by FMCSA. About any of these.

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Brandon Wiseman: No, we’ve had 10 years of grace period, so no, no more grace period yet.

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Steve Kessler: Okay?

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Steve Kessler: so, a lot of people have asked. So, the driver is no longer required to carry any kind of documentation

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Steve Kessler: drivers specifically, yeah, we’ll be able to see that on their record, right.

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Brandon Wiseman: That’s right. Yeah. CDL drivers specifically will no longer have to carry proof of their physical qualifications. It will be on their driving record that the officer would run roadside. Non-CDL drivers, on the other hand, still must carry that physical Med card with them.

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Steve Kessler: Okay, there’s hang on a second. There was another question somebody asked about.

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Steve Kessler: Let me. Here it is. If a company is on the California pull notice.

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Steve Kessler: will we still need to run an MVR. I don’t know anything about that.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah.

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Steve Kessler: A brand.

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Brandon Wiseman: I don’t know enough about it. I know that California has a pull notice program. That’s essentially an automated MVR for California domicile drivers that that fleets in California must run. It’s like continuous license monitoring that some fleets voluntarily subscribe to. I don’t know enough about the pull. Notice reports as to whether they display medical certification information. I assume they do.

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Brandon Wiseman: and if they do, maybe that’s sufficient. But I don’t want to give an answer, because I don’t know. I haven’t looked at a pull notice report in a long time.

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Steve Kessler: Okay, very good.

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Steve Kessler: Mark. Do you have any questions? I’m going to look at the chat here again.

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Mark Rhea: No, it looks like a lot of responsibility is being shifted over to the medical evaluation team and I’m assuming they’ve been in the loop on all this. But that’s a big assumption the other comment I would make. That was one of your recommendations that we, you got to get this information out to your drivers. I can see a lot of creative interpretations of this, such as, oh, we don’t have to have medical exams anymore.

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Mark Rhea: And

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Mark Rhea: and they’ll get their advice at the truck. Stop, of course, and we don’t need that to happen. So, if there’s ever good custom content, and I’m assuming they can take some of the slides off this to help develop custom content, content to get their drivers

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Mark Rhea: immediately, because this thing is, if comes into effect on the 23rd

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah.

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Mark Rhea: Wow! This is this is a. There are some significant changes here.

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Mark Rhea: and I can see I can see them; the ball being dropped between the medical evaluator and the registry. I can see I’m just not doing it.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah, I see some questions here. I’m just going to take it here.

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Steve Kessler: Sure.

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Brandon Wiseman: Somebody’s asking, timing for self-certification. Remember, that’s a process, I said. It’s not changing. So, nothing’s changing about that. Drivers are still. CDL drivers are still going to have to self-certify as interstate, intrastate, non-accepted, accepted at the cadence that they do currently which, as I understand it, is usually with the renewal of their CDL. Or if they engage in CDL, upgrade, or anything like that, so it’s not going to be pegged to the new exam. It’s going to be pegged to CDL transactions that they complete

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Brandon Wiseman: pertaining to DQ Files is a physical copy of their Med. Card still required in the file. No, for CDL drivers, yes, for non-CDL drivers.

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Brandon Wiseman: I’m assuming we still need to verify. Medical examiners are listed on the national Registry. No, that is not a requirement anymore. After June 23rd for CDL drivers, you no longer have to verify that they’re on the National Registry, because this is going to be an electronic process that gets uploaded to the National Registry. The National Registry is clearly involved. The reason we’ve had to do that in this interim gap of time is because.

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Brandon Wiseman: you know, we still had the potential that a driver could falsify their Med Card, that they were issued, and then try and take it to the, to the, to the State driver’s licensing agency. So, we had to have a stopgap measure of ensuring that that medical examiner was on the National Registry because the National Registry wasn’t involved in the results. Now it is involved in the results. So that’s why we no longer must do that.

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Brandon Wiseman: You guys see any more.

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Steve Kessler: Well, here’s 1 that was interesting to me. It says, who’s in charge. If Driver CDL. Is downgraded and the driver is out of service at the way station because of a typo mistake from the doctor’s office. Does the doctor’s office face any penalties.

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Brandon Wiseman: Well,

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Brandon Wiseman: frankly, probably not. You know the doctors on the National Registry are held to standards, and sometimes the FMCSA.

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Brandon Wiseman: Particularly in egregious situations. We saw this recently. I want to say it was probably 5 months ago or so. There were a couple of doctors that were issuing falsified exams, or they were writing Med cards without even conducting exams, and we saw them pulled from the National Registry. They were revoked from it, and all those med cards. I think there were like 15,000 med cards. Some of you on here probably remember that they were

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Brandon Wiseman: rendered invalidated because of that. So, the FMCSA. Does drop the hammer occasionally, but it’s egregious situations. I don’t think typos are. Going draws the ire of the FMCSA. And so, if the medical examiner screws something up.

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Brandon Wiseman: Unfortunately, it’s going to be the driver and the carrier that suffer. And so, for that reason, that’s why FMCSA recommended it, and why we recommend that to you. You keep tight reins on that process. In other words, drivers should be double checking the information that gets written down about their CDL number, and carriers should be quick to run the MVR. And then go through that. You know about the troubleshooting process that we described earlier.

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Steve Kessler: A lot of states haven’t come on yet. Is there a way for people to know? When is their State fully compliant?

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Steve Kessler: The only list I’ve seen periodically.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah. The only list I’ve seen is on that FMCSA website. If you just Google FMCSA medical certification rule, you’ll find it. It’s also in a link with those slides that are going to be distributed. But at the bottom of that page is the list of States that are ready to go supposedly, and that has been updated every day over the last couple of weeks. So that’s where you could go to see whether your State’s on there or not.

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Steve Kessler: Very good, very good. One thing I want to do. Obviously, it’s been mentioned several times already. It’s going to be very important to provide information and train your drivers

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Steve Kessler: about this change coming up to make sure that they understand what they’re supposed to do. And I’m going to pop a little

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Steve Kessler: poll question up on here. Obviously.

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Steve Kessler: our service here is to provide a platform for training your drivers. So, if anybody out there is interested in how we might be able to help you get that information out to your drivers and have it documented. So, you’ve got a good record that you provided driver training.

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Steve Kessler: Go ahead and answer the question on the poll. And

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Steve Kessler: you can get some recertification points for having attended this through NATMI. So, if you’re a certified director of safety. Make sure you let us know that.

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Steve Kessler: So, while y’all are doing that, let me see if there are any others.

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Brandon Wiseman: Found a couple I can take here. Somebody’s asking.

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Brandon Wiseman: why do drivers have to self-certify at their state licensing agency? If they’re no longer being presented. A physical med card. Keep in mind those are 2 separate things that are kind of related. The self-certification is the driver telling the state driver’s licensing agency. Whether they are subject to the physical qualification standards or not, is essentially what self-certification is. If they’re an intrastate only driver

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Brandon Wiseman: that is exempted under some state exemption from the medical exam. The State Licensing agency, unless the driver tells them that they wouldn’t know about it. And so, they need to know that they are exempted, so that then they don’t try and downgrade their license, based on not having the Med card from that driver or from his medical examiner.

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Brandon Wiseman: so that self-certification process is still necessary.

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Brandon Wiseman: and I see somebody else commenting. This is probably right. I’m not familiar with the process in every State. But they said that in some states that self-certification process can be done electronically. And so, it’s probably a state-by-state process analysis.

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Brandon Wiseman: But in any event, that’s why it’s a separate process is because it’s telling the State licensing agency in the 1st instance, should we, as the licensing agency be expecting a Med. Card for this driver or not, and that will inform how we handle their CDL. Based on whether we have that information or not.

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Steve Kessler: What’s what happens if the State doesn’t come on board by the 23rd

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Brandon Wiseman: It’s a good question. I don’t know the answer to it.

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Brandon Wiseman: I don’t think FMCSA is going to delay the rule any further, and

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Brandon Wiseman: but that that puts you in a pickle right, because if you got drivers domiciled in that state, that whose medical exam expires on that day which inevitably, inevitably, we will have. I don’t know how that’s going to be handled. Maybe some type of

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Brandon Wiseman: we’ve seen FMCSA do this in the past. This is just me guessing, but they may issue some type of an Enforcement bulletin that essentially says.

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Brandon Wiseman: And this goes back to that Grace period question. It hasn’t come out yet, so don’t hear me wrong here. But I can envision FMCSA. Saying, if we have some States who are lingering behind here, maybe we issue a temporary enforcement bulletin that says, for 30 days we won’t enforce this requirement against these drivers. We’ve seen them do that in other contexts I could envision that happening. But that’s just guessing at this point.

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Steve Kessler: I think maybe you already answered this, but drivers still need to go to the SDLA to self, certify.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yes, okay. Well.

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Brandon Wiseman: unless they’re in a state that has an electronic process for that which some others in the chat have said, are there some states like that? So.

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Steve Kessler: Yeah, but nothing’s changing about the self-certification process.

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Steve Kessler: Word.

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Brandon Wiseman: Here’s another question. Do we need to retain existing Med cards in the DQ file for historical or litigation purposes? That’s a good question that I don’t think the FMCSA Has addressed for you. But yes, you should be doing that. So, under the normal qualification, the DQ file regulation. There are

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Brandon Wiseman: record retention requirements for Med cards. You’re supposed to keep 3 years’ worth of them in the DQ file, and so I would recommend strongly that you continue to do that, that you keep 3 years’ worth of the physical med cards for the drivers to meet that regulation.

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Steve Kessler: Yes, question. Somebody wanted to know if the medical examiner can charge extra if the driver requests a paper copy.

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Brandon Wiseman: There’s nothing that necessarily.

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Steve Kessler: Case, yeah.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah, there’s nothing that necessarily prohibits them from doing that. I don’t know if FMCSA would look fondly on that, but because of their guidance. It’s just guidance for the medical examiners. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but in their guidance, they say, hey, if a driver requests one you should issue one, so I don’t think they will look kindly if the States start charging for that. But.

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Steve Kessler: Yeah, that would probably get them kicked off the registry quickly.

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Brandon Wiseman: Maybe not. I don’t know.

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Steve Kessler: Who said, who knows?

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Steve Kessler: Okay, see anything else, Brandon? I’m trying to.

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Brandon Wiseman: Kind of scrolling here.

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Steve Kessler: Here’s a question, will the previous physical be null and void? Once the new physical is completed, even though the 3-day process is not yet completed.

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Brandon Wiseman: Well, that’s true. Even under the current rule. Right? A driver gets a new medical certification. It is the official certification that the old one that they had is no longer the

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Brandon Wiseman: the active one. So yeah, that’s not changing. So once the driver gets a new medical certification, their old one is preempted by that new one.

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Steve Kessler: Good, all right. Well, I think we’ve

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Steve Kessler: come to our allotment here, and I know people have other places and things to go and do one thing, Brandon, I’m going to send you a copy of this chat file.

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Brandon Wiseman: Yeah.

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Steve Kessler: And the Q&A File that way. If we’ve missed anybody, and you feel like you can answer their question. I think we answered. A lot of these throughout the course of your presentation.

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Brandon Wiseman: If I see any repeated questions that I we didn’t get to, I’ll send it to the INFINITI folks, and they can get it out to everyone. There are hundreds of messages here, so I’m not going to answer them.

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Steve Kessler: Yeah, it’s going to be difficult. I knew we’d get a lot. But anyway, great information, I hope all this new process works like it’s supposed to. And we don’t have a lot of technical issues, cause it’s just going to cause a lot of grief for a lot of folks, but we’ll hope for the best.

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Steve Kessler: But, Brandon, thank you, sir, this is great information.

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Steve Kessler: appreciate you being on, and those of you that are still with us out there. Thanks for joining us, and.

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Brandon Wiseman: Go pacers.

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Steve Kessler: Forward to an invitation coming soon. We’re going to talk a little bit about the English language issue, too. So, there’s a lot of real important things going on here this month. So.

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Mark Rhea: Everybody just sends a quick shout out to Brandon, thanking him for keeping us updated on this most important project. It’s we appreciate you supporting our industry the way you do.

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Brandon Wiseman: Sure, happy to do it.

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Mark Rhea: And again, we do have an English proficiency. Webinar, in a couple of weeks. Is that right, Steve?

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Steve Kessler: Yeah, coming up.

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Steve Kessler: Very good, Brandon. Thank you. Thanks to all of you that have joined. Thanks for all the thanks you that are popping in, somebody said, Go, pacers, that’s all good right, Brandon.

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Brandon Wiseman: Oh, yeah.

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Brandon Wiseman: Pacers.

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Steve Kessler: All right. Thank you all very much. We’re going to go ahead and end the webinar. So, thank everybody for coming. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you, Mark.

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Brandon Wiseman: Thanks. Everyone.

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Steve Kessler: All right. Here we go!