CDME Module 1: Overview-July 21, 2015

July 21, 2015

Pdf Summary

The Medical Review Board (MRB) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) held a meeting on July 21-22, 2015, in Arlington, VA. The meeting was open to the public and attended by various committee members, FMCSA representatives, and other individuals from organizations such as CBS News, American Diabetes Association, and American Academy of Physician Assistants. <br /><br />The board discussed Task 15-1, which focused on the review of responses to FMCSA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on diabetes mellitus from medical professionals and associations. They discussed the risks associated with allowing drivers with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) to drive commercial vehicles and the importance of receiving health information from insulin subscribing doctors. They also discussed the number of drivers under the Diabetes Exemption Program, the higher crash risk for ITDM drivers, and the need for improved guidelines for medical examiners to sign medical cards confidently for ITDM drivers.<br /><br />The board also started creating a questionnaire for ITDM drivers to give to treating clinicians, which would replace the Diabetes Exemption Program. They discussed various aspects of the questionnaire, such as the categories for treating physicians, blood-glucose logs, and requirements for regular eye exams. They also discussed the need to get rid of the vision exemption program, while maintaining the same level of safety.<br /><br />The meeting also included presentations on the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and ethics briefing. The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. on July 22.<br /><br />Overall, the MRB meeting focused on reviewing the proposed rulemaking on diabetes mellitus and creating a new questionnaire for ITDM drivers, as well as discussing the vision exemption program and ethics.

Keywords

Medical Review Board

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

MRB meeting

diabetes mellitus

insulin-treated diabetes mellitus

commercial vehicles

health information

Diabetes Exemption Program

medical examiners

questionnaire for ITDM drivers