§ 405.1853 Board proceedings prior to any hearing; discovery.

(a) Preliminary narrowing of the issues. Upon receiving notification that a request for a Board hearing is submitted, the contractor must—

(1) Promptly review both the materials submitted with the provider hearing request, and the information underlying each contractor or Secretary determination for each cost reporting period under appeal.

(2) Expeditiously attempt to join with the provider in resolving specific factual or legal issues and submitting to the Board written stipulations setting forth the specific issues that remain for Board resolution based on the review; and

(3) Ensure that the evidence it considered in making its determination, or, where applicable, the evidence the Secretary considered in making his or her determination, is included in the record.

(b) Position papers. (1) After any preliminary narrowing of the issues, the parties must file position papers in order to narrow the issues further. In each case, and as appropriate, the Board establishes the deadlines as to when the provider(s) and the contractor must submit position papers to the Board.

(2) The Board has the discretion to extend the deadline for submitting a position paper. Each position paper must set forth the relevant facts and arguments regarding the Board's jurisdiction over each remaining matter at issue in the appeal (as described in § 405.1840 of this subpart), and the merits of the provider's Medicare payment claims for each remaining issue.

(3) In the absence of a Board order or general instructions to the contrary, any supporting exhibits regarding Board jurisdiction must accompany the position paper. Exhibits regarding the merits of the provider's Medicare payment claims may be submitted in a timeframe to be decided by the Board through a schedule applicable to a specific case or through general instructions.

(c) Initial status conference. (1) Upon review of the parties' position papers, one or more members of the Board may conduct an initial status conference. An initial status conference may be conducted in person or telephone, at the discretion of the Board.

(2) The Board may use the status conference to discuss any of the following:

(i) Simplification of the issues.

(ii) The necessity or desirability of amendments to the pleadings, including the need for a more definite statement.