MERCHANT MARINER MEDICAL EVALUATION PROGRAM.

SEC. 718. MERCHANT MARINER MEDICAL EVALUATION PROGRAM. (a) In General.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commandant of the Coast Guard shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate an assessment of the Coast Guard National Maritime Center’s merchant mariner medical evaluation program and alternatives to the program. (b) Contents.—The assessment required under subsection (a) shall include the following: (1) An overview of the adequacy of the program for making medical certification determinations for issuance of merchant mariners’ documents. (2) An analysis of how a system similar to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners program, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Designated Aviation Medical Examiners program, could be applied by the Coast Guard in making medical fitness determinations for issuance of merchant mariners’ documents. (3) An explanation of how the amendments to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, that entered into force on January 1, 2012, required changes to the Coast Guard’s merchant mariner medical evaluation program.