How to assist drivers when electronic submission of a medical examiners report to the State Driver’s Licensing Agency fails
The National Registry (NRCME) requires the electronic transmission of driver medical examination results (medically qualified, medically unqualified, and voided) and additional information (e.g., corrective lenses, hearing aid, medical exemption, skill performance evaluation certificate, etc.) from examinations performed for commercial learner’s permit (CLP) applicants and commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders from FMCSA’s National Registry to the State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLAs). Those SDLAs will post the information on the Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS) driver motor vehicle record (MVR).
Examiners are required to submit exam results to the National Registry by midnight (local time) of the next calendar day following the examination.
Assisting Drivers When Electronic Transmission Fails
Drivers have been provided with the steps below to take if they find that their medical certification information has not been received by the State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLA):
Step 1- Contact the medical examiner that performed your physical qualification examination, explain the issue, and request that they log into their National Registry account and verify if they received an error message task for your examination. If they have, request that they use the copy of your driver’s license submitted at the time of the examination to correct any errors and select submit.
Step 2 - Contact the SDLA to inform them that the medical examiner submitted the validation/correction and to verify that the medical certification information posted. If it has not, and you requested an original/paper Medical Examiner’s Certificate, Form MCSA-5876, at the time of your examination, verify if it would be helpful to use it to help troubleshoot the issue and resolve it. In addition, the SDLA can attempt to pull the information from the National Registry which may assist in identifying the error that needs to be corrected (e.g., errors in the spelling of last name, DOB, licensing state, or license #).
Step 3 - If neither of the steps above resolve the issue, you can contact FMCSA’s National Registry Technical Support Helpdesk at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (617) 494-3003, to assist in determining the issue and possible corrective actions the agency can assist with.
The Medical Examiner is the first step at troubleshooting the transmission issue. Therefore, if a driver contacts you stating that their medical certification information was not received by the SDLA, you should take the following steps:
Step 1 -Check your National Registry account and determine if you have submitted the examination results in the system. If not, submit the examination results as soon as possible, ensuring the driver information is accurate (be prepared for the examination results to need additional attention after submission should it fail the driver data validation).
Step 2 - check to see if you have received an error message task for the driver’s examination results. If you have, you should use a copy of the driver’s license submitted at the time of the examination to correct any errors and select submit. If no error message is returned, the medical certification information has been successfully transmitted to the SDLA. Otherwise, you must complete the action with the same validated driver information provided. If you have submitted the examination results, and there is no error message, ensure the driver data on the examination results is exactly as indicated on the driver’s license. If it is not, you may submit a new examination result with the corrected information (only if an error message task is not available for the examination result; it was either inaccurately completed previously or for a non-CDL holder. Submitting a corrected duplicate examination result is a last resort option to support the driver.
How to Avoid Submission Errors
Medical examiners should ensure that they are capturing accurate information on each driver they examine. When the driver completes the Medical Examination Report Form, MCSA-5875, they should be providing accurate information exactly as it appears on their driver’s license, as these key identifiers (last name, DOB, licensing state, license #) will be used when transmitting the medical certification information from the National Registry to the SDLA. As discussed above, if inaccurate information is provided, there will be an error and the driver’s medical certification information will not be transmitted from the National Registry to the SDLA.
All medical examiners have the capability to enter the results of the driver’s examination while the driver is present for the examination. This method could afford an opportunity for the driver to verify in real time, that all their information has been entered correctly. It would limit errors that could potentially be returned during the driver data validation.
Medical examiners are encouraged to make a copy of each driver’s license, so you have it to refer to in case there is an error during the transmission of the driver’s information from the National Registry to the SDLA.
It would be helpful to the drivers to advise them of the most efficient way to for them to work with your office if they are aware that there is an issue with their physical qualification results posting to their CDLIS driver MVR.
