The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a new safety rule that requires health care professionals who perform medical examinations for interstate truck and bus drivers to be trained, tested and certified on the specific physical qualifications that affect a driver's ability to safely operate the vehicle.

The final rule also creates a national online database of medical examiners who have completed the FMCSA certification process.

FMCSA developed the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners final rule as part of the agency's commitment to enhancing the medical oversight of interstate drivers and preventing commercial vehicle-related crashes, injuries and fatalities. This rule addresses four National Transportation Safety Board recommendations on comprehensive training for medical examiners and tracking of driver medical certificates.

In 30 days, FMCSA will post its uniform training and testing standards for medical examiners at http://nrcme.fmcsa.dot.gov/. At that time, health care professionals, drivers, employers, law enforcement officers, and the public can review the training standards and sign up to receive updates on the implementation of the rule.

By May 21, 2014, all certified medical examiners must be on the National Registry database, and drivers must obtain a medical examination from a certified examiner. Medical examiners that fail to maintain federal standards will be removed from the registry.

To allow time for testing and training centers to prepare their curricula and receive FMCSA approval, healthcare professionals seeking to become certified examiners can begin registering on the National Registry website this summer.

Medical examiners perform approximately three million examinations on commercial truck and bus drivers each year. A U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) medical exam looks at a range of conditions to determine a driver's medical fitness, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory and muscular functions, vision and hearing.

All commercial drivers must pass a U.S. DOT medical examination at least every two years in order to obtain a valid medical certificate, maintain their commercial driver's license and legally drive a commercial motor vehicle.