The Southeast TN Council held another virtual meeting today, 7-28-2020, in place of our in-person meetings. We had 25 participants join on the meeting.

The presenter for this meeting was Joseph Sentef MD, MPH, MBA, MRO, the Chief Medical Officer for the FMCSA and Chief MRO for CMS. He is also a longstanding Chattanooga area physician.  He has been in Washington DC for nearly two years trying to help the trucking industry.  He was able to present general information about FMCSA updates on topics such as Sleep Apnea, Hair and Oral Drug Testing, and Clearinghouse trends.

Two interesting facts to note that the presentation kicked off with:

  • University of Central Arkansas verified the Trucking Alliance Study showing 275,000 (about 8.5%) drivers would fail the hair testing.
  • Oral Fluid testing will give you results within one hour, which made these tests a favorite of Mr. Joseph Sentef over urine tests.

Joseph Sentef was able to cover a large amount of information regarding sleep apnea as well as answer many questions from our participants. We really appreciate the time he took out of his day to meet and talk with us! 

Eston Pyle, Chairman

Matt Holmes, Vice Chairman

Grady Phillips, Secretary