UPDATED: Medical certification confusion — and a state by state resource guide for meeting Jan. 30 reporting deadline

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Updated Jan 8, 2014

A Louisiana-based CDL holder wrote in following Overdrive reporting on the upcoming deadline to “self-certify” with your licensing state that you have a valid medical card.

The June 2011 cover story of former Overdrive sister publication Truckers News examined the “Medical CDL” rule in brief — at the time, drivers were under a 2012 deadline to self-report medical certification, but too many states were behind the ball, resulting in two years’ worth of extensions.The June 2011 cover story of former Overdrive sister publication Truckers News examined the “Medical CDL” rule in brief — at the time, drivers were under a 2012 deadline to self-report medical certification, but too many states were behind the ball, resulting in two years’ worth of extensions.

I’m confused about this new medical card. Do I have to go to DMV and get a different kind of card? Everyone I talk to in Louisiana has never heard of this?

The “new medical card” will be your CDL, part of the so-called “Medical CDL” rule’s long implementation, following which your medical certification will be electronically accessible to enforcement officers via your CDL, essentially, eliminating the need for drivers to carry paper medical cards.

Originally scheduled for implementation at the end of January 2012, as we reported in 2011, states’ slow progress on updating their own systems led to extensions. As reported Dec. 17, Jan. 30 is the final deadline.  

And if you don’t report your medical certification before the deadline, as wrote one commenter under the news, “your CDL privileges will be compromised.”

Download the AAMVA guide to all 50 states via this link. 

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators has built a handy guide to all states containing contact information for drivers still needing to self-certify. Some states will accept certification information via email, and others have various procedures.

Some states, furthermore, have been collecting the information for many years already.

UPDATE 12/23/2013
CDL Program Specialist Matthew May of the Kansas Department of Revenue wrote in to update his state’s procedures, which he says are out of date in the AAMVA spreadsheet. The state has an online applications and a download of a paper application that drivers may use accessible via ksrevenue.org/vehicle.html

“If you use the online application,” says May, “it allows a driver to fill in the necessary information and even attach a PDF copy of their medical card before their application is submitted. It also has the fax number on there that drivers can use to submit documents.”

Any questions on the Kansas self-certification process can be directed to the state’s customer contact center 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 785-296-6834. “At the present time,” says May, “we do not have one person designated as out point of contact — it has been more of a community effort.” 

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Basics of their procedures are as follows:

By mail: 
Medical certification forms and copies of medical cards can be mailed to: Driver Licensing, Docking State Office Building, Attn: Medical Cert, P.O. Box 2188, Topeka, KS 66601-2128 

By fax:
Medical certification forms and copies of medical cards can be faxed to 785-296-5859

By e-mail:
Med cert forms and copies of DOT/Medical cards can be emailed to [email protected]

 

UPDATE 12/20/2013
John Barsness of the Idaho Transportation Department wrote in to update the state’s status on accepting drivers’ medical certifications, which in the AAMVA chart was listed as still pending; access a dynamic version of the AAMVA chart via this page, click “Medical Certification”: “Idaho is actively processing med certs,” Barsness wrote, and the state “only requires a copy of the wallet card, not the full medical form. There is no charge to submit the information.”

By e-mail: [email protected]

By fax: 208-334-8586

By mail: Idaho Transportation Department, P.O. Box 7129, Boise, ID 83707. 

Online: Idaho’s self-certification process also can be completed via this online form. Drivers who are required to submit a medical card to ITD may submit the card via fax, email and regular mail, or they may take the card to any county’s driver’s license office to be scanned. 

Driver Services Manager Ed Pemble is a good point of contact for questions: 208-334-8735, [email protected]

Following find further intel shared by readers under the Dec. 17 story and on Overdrive‘s Facebook page 

Pat Huffman: This is not a big deal. Our safety director will do it for us after we get a new physical, or do it yourself. No fees are involved. Why do people cry over this stuff?

Michael Kinney: All you have to do is go to your local DMV with your medical card and tell them you’re there to self-certify. They will scan your medical card into their database. It’s that simple.

Jerry Todd: Nope — went [to the DMV] for that and was given a form to fill out — had to go someplace else and fax my CDL, long-form physical and the medical card to Nashville, along with the completed form.

Gale Humphrey: $2.00 fee in Missouri!

Julie Jensen: For Florida, I’ve had to do it for about two years now. It’s easy since I can email it to the DMV.

Devinder Bahia: In California and Arizona they already have our medical certificate in the DMV system.

Kevin J. Reidy: Took three minutes — faxed the self-certification form along with a copy of my long-form physical to the Ohio DMV. Done.