If I already have a current 1st class medical and get diagnosed with either UC or Crohns, do I lose my medical right then? I’ve been looking at the FAA site and reading about the CACI but do not fully understand. I have not been diagnosed but did talk to the AME’s nurse and she said that they just submit the CACI paperwork after the diagnosis and I don’t lose my medical. Hoping someone has some first hand knowledge in this.
Thanks

Items that meet criteria for a CACI are those the FAA has decided can be delegated for approval by the AME (subject to FAA review). What that means is that if you have one of these diagnoses that is not in excess of the severity listed in the CACI, and is adequately controlled by the medications listed for that illness at the dosages listed, the AME can - on their own authority - just issue your medical certificate. That does not mean that it is impossible for you to get a certificate if you exceed CACI criteria necessarily, just that in such an event the FAA does not delegate that decision making authority to the AME but retains it with the FAA physical standards people in OKC or the Federal Air Surgeon level.

PM me I’d I’m not explaining this clearly enough.