Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/748284
30 | Overdrive | November 2016 T ruckers are required to use a doctor on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners when getting their U.S. Department of Transportation physical examinations. Since that's been the law for more than two years, every trucker who's required to be medically certified at least every two years now should have been through a physical with a doctor on the registry. Regarding sleep apnea, that's signifi- cant. Apnea-screening protocols were included in training that all registry-list- ed doctors were required to take prior to being listed. Two identical Overdrive polls taken around the 2014 inception and two-year anniversary of the NRCME show that the percentage of drivers who've been tested for apnea grew from about a third of drivers to 46 percent. However, inclusion of the screening protocols in the certification process has not totally cleared up the confusion and lack of precision surrounding apnea and related requirements for profes- sional drivers. Those protocols, as well as newer proposed guidelines for apnea screening, have raised new concerns among drivers around whether testing referrals are justified. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is pursuing a rulemaking that could bring clarity to these matters. The rulemaking route was required by Congress if FMCSA wants to act in a significant way on apnea, and signs are A new Overdrive analysis suggests at least one in four owner-operators would be screened for sleep apnea testing under proposed guidelines. BY TODD DILLS wakeup call Sleep apnea treatment usually involves use of a continuous positive airway pressure machine. wakeup call Apnea's