If you drive a commercial vehicle on the Northshore and need a DOT physical in Covington, LA, you can walk in at Total Health Urgent Care any day of the week. Our DOT exams and screenings are performed by a nationally registered medical examiner through FMCSA, no appointment needed, and our hours run 7 AM to 7 PM daily so you can come before a run or after one.
What is a DOT physical?
A DOT physical is the federally required medical exam that determines whether a commercial driver is medically fit to operate a commercial motor vehicle. Under 49 CFR 391.43, the exam covers the body systems listed on the Medical Examination Report, form MCSA-5875, and it has to be performed by a medical examiner listed on the FMCSA National Registry. Pass it, and you’re issued a Medical Examiner’s Certificate, form MCSA-5876, which most drivers just call a med card.
People search for this under a lot of different names. DOT physical, CDL physical, DOT medical card, FMCSA physical, commercial driver medical exam. They all mean the same visit.
Who needs a DOT physical?
Far more Northshore workers need one than most people realize. It isn’t only over-the-road truck drivers. Around here the list also includes school bus drivers, parish and municipal public works crews, waste and construction haulers, timber trucks running out of the Folsom and Franklinton area, and the agricultural rigs moving product around Tangipahoa Parish.
School transportation alone is a big share of it. St. Tammany Parish Public Schools reports transporting about 31,500 students each day on a fleet of 380 buses covering roughly 29,000 miles daily. Every one of those seats has a certified driver behind it, and the neighboring Tangipahoa Parish School System’s bus driver job description calls for a current Class A or B CDL with air brakes and passenger and school bus endorsements.
What happens during a DOT physical?
The visit is straightforward and follows the same federal form every time. These are the pieces the examiner works through, listed in the order the Medical Examination Report itself lays them out. A clinic may take them in a slightly different sequence:
- Health history. You complete the driver portion of the MCSA-5875, listing conditions, surgeries, and every medication you take.
- Pulse, height, and weight. Recorded at the start of the testing section.
- Blood pressure. Taken and recorded on the form.
- Urinalysis. A dipstick health screen, not a drug test. More on that below.
- Vision screening. Tested with the corrective lenses you actually drive in.
- Hearing screening. Either a forced whisper test or an audiometric test.
- Physical examination. The examiner works through the body systems listed on the federal form.
- Certification decision. If you qualify, you leave with your Medical Examiner’s Certificate.
What vision and hearing standards apply?
These two are written directly into the regulation, so the numbers are fixed. For vision, 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10) requires a driver to have “distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 (Snellen) in each eye without corrective lenses or visual acuity separately corrected to 20/40 (Snellen) or better with corrective lenses,” plus “field of vision of at least 70° in the horizontal meridian in each eye, and the ability to recognize the colors of traffic signals and devices showing standard red, green, and amber.”
For hearing, the standard sits one subsection down, at 49 CFR 391.41(b)(11), which requires that a driver “first perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than 5 feet with or without the use of a hearing aid or, if tested by use of an audiometric device, does not have an average hearing loss in the better ear greater than 40 decibels at 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 2,000 Hz.”
Practical takeaway: bring your glasses, contacts, and hearing aids. You’re allowed to use them, and showing up without them is an avoidable way to complicate your exam.
Does blood pressure affect how long your card lasts?
It can, and this is the single most misunderstood part of the exam. The binding regulation itself contains no blood pressure number at all. 49 CFR 391.41(b)(6) says only that a driver “has no current clinical diagnosis of high blood pressure likely to interfere with his/her ability to operate a commercial motor vehicle safely.”
The familiar tiers come from FMCSA’s Medical Advisory Criteria in Appendix A to Part 391 and the Medical Examiner’s Handbook. That’s guidance examiners use to exercise judgment, not a pass-fail statute:
So a high reading on exam day usually isn’t the end of your career. It’s often a shorter card and a recheck. If you’re on blood pressure medication, keep taking it as prescribed and bring the bottle or the list.
Is the urinalysis part of a DOT physical a drug test?
No. The urine sample collected during a DOT physical under Part 391 is a health screen that looks for things like protein, blood, and sugar, which can flag conditions such as diabetes or kidney disease. The DOT drug and alcohol testing program is an entirely separate process governed by 49 CFR Part 40, with its own collection, laboratory, and medical review officer steps.
Both can happen in one visit here. Total Health Urgent Care performs DOT and non DOT physical examinations and drug screens, and we also provide chain of custody send off drug screens for employers, so a carrier can get a driver’s exam and screening handled in a single stop.
What should you bring to your DOT physical?
These aren’t federal requirements, they’re practical steps that keep your visit from turning into two visits:
- Photo ID, and your CDL if you hold one.
- Your current medical card if you’re renewing.
- A complete medication list with doses and the prescribing provider.
- Glasses or contacts, and hearing aids if you wear them.
- Documentation for any managed condition, such as a clearance letter or recent labs from your treating provider.
- Any FMCSA exemption or variance paperwork you’ve been issued.
How long is a DOT medical certificate good for?
Up to 24 months. 49 CFR 391.45 requires re-examination if a driver hasn’t been medically examined and certified as qualified during the preceding 24 months. Shorter intervals apply in defined situations, including drivers with insulin-treated diabetes and drivers certified under a vision exemption, who are on a 12-month cycle. An examiner may also certify for a shorter period when a driver’s condition warrants closer monitoring.
What changed for Louisiana drivers in 2026?
This one is worth knowing right now. FMCSA has been moving medical certificate reporting off paper and onto an electronic chain, where the examiner transmits your exam results to FMCSA’s National Registry and the National Registry passes them along to the state driver licensing agencies. The agency calls this change National Registry II. Louisiana spent most of 2026 among the last states still finishing that transition. On its own NRII page, the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles now states that “Louisiana is meeting this requirements as of September 15, 2026”. That is the state’s own statement, and it is only days old, so treat it as brand new.
While states were catching up, FMCSA granted a temporary exemption allowing drivers licensed in non-compliant states to keep using a paper Medical Examiner’s Certificate as proof. That exemption became effective April 11, 2026, and expires on October 11, 2026. The practical advice for Louisiana CDL holders holds either way: keep your paper card on you, and don’t assume your state record updates itself. Check your medical certification status with the OMV after your exam.
Where can Northshore drivers get a walk-in DOT physical?
You’ll find us at 73015 Hwy 25, Suite A, Covington, LA 70435, a short way north of downtown where Hwy 190 and Hwy 25 come together. That puts us roughly 6 minutes from Abita Springs, 12 from Madisonville, 16 from Mandeville, 19 from Folsom, around half an hour from Hammond, a little over half an hour from Slidell, and about 45 minutes from Franklinton.
The location matters for drivers because I-12 runs 85 miles straight across the Northshore from Baton Rouge to Slidell, and Louisiana DOTD reports that more than 100,000 vehicles of all types pass through the Covington and Mandeville stretch of that corridor every day. If you’re already running that route, you’re already passing us.
What makes this easy: walk-ins are welcome, the doors are open 7 AM to 7 PM every day including weekends, and X-ray and lab work are handled in the building, so if something comes up during your exam you’re not sent across the parish for it. Need a sick or injury visit on the same trip? Our Covington walk-in clinic page covers what else we treat, and you can browse the full list of urgent care and occupational health services.
DOT physical questions Northshore drivers ask
Yes. Walk-ins are welcome for DOT exams and screenings at Total Health Urgent Care. The clinic runs 7 AM to 7 PM daily, weekends included, so a Saturday morning or a pre-shift weekday stop both work.
Examinations are performed by a nationally registered medical examiner through FMCSA. Federal rules under 49 CFR 391.43 require that a DOT physical be performed by an examiner listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
Pricing depends on what your visit includes, so call (985) 400-5370 to talk through the out-of-pocket cost for your situation. You can also review our published self-pay rates and insurance details.
There is no binding FMCSA regulation requiring sleep apnea screening or testing. FMCSA formally withdrew its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on obstructive sleep apnea on August 8, 2017, and no replacement rule has been issued since. Whether to evaluate further is a clinical judgment made by the certified medical examiner.
Under FMCSA’s advisory criteria, an elevated reading often means a shorter certification period and a recheck rather than an outright disqualification. Very high readings mean you aren’t certified until the pressure is brought under control. Bring your medication list so the examiner has the full picture.
Yes. We provide DOT and non DOT physical examinations and drug screens, plus chain of custody send off drug screens for employers.
In Louisiana, yes, though the legal path is worth understanding. Federal rules at 49 CFR 390.3T(f)(1) actually except school bus operations from most of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Louisiana, however, adopted the physical qualification standards in 49 CFR 391.41 as its own state requirement for CDL holders. So the same exam standard applies, and parish school systems on the Northshore require a passing CDL physical as part of hiring.
Ready when you are
No appointment, no scheduling hoops. Walk in at 73015 Hwy 25, Suite A, Covington, LA 70435 between 7 AM and 7 PM on any day, or phone (985) 400-5370 first if you have questions. You can also send us a message.
For a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Prepared by the Total Health Urgent Care team; founded by Jennifer Duncan, APRN, MSN, FNP-C. This article is general information about federal commercial driver medical certification and is not a substitute for an evaluation by a certified medical examiner. Federal requirements are current as of September 2026 and can change; verify current standards with FMCSA and your state licensing agency.