§ 405.990 Expedited access to judicial review.

(a) Process for expedited access to judicial review. (1) For purposes of this section, a “review entity” means an entity of up to three reviewers who are ALJs or members of the Departmental Appeals Board (DAB), as determined by the Secretary.

(2) In order to obtain expedited access to judicial review (EAJR), a review entity must certify that the Council does not have the authority to decide the question of law or regulation relevant to the matters in dispute and that there is no material issue of fact in dispute.

(3) A party may make a request for EAJR only once with respect to a question of law or regulation for a specific matter in dispute in an appeal.

(b) Conditions for making the expedited appeals request. (1) A party may request EAJR in place of an ALJ hearing or Council review if the following conditions are met:

(i) A QIC has made a reconsideration determination and the party has filed a request for—

(A) An ALJ hearing in accordance with § 405.1002 and a decision, dismissal order, or remand order of the ALJ or attorney adjudicator has not been issued;

(B) Council review in accordance with § 405.1102 and a final decision, dismissal order, or remand order of the Council has not been issued; or

(ii) The appeal has been escalated from the QIC to OMHA for an ALJ hearing after the period described in § 405.970(a) and § 405.970(b) has expired, and the QIC does not issue a decision or dismissal order within the timeframe described in § 405.970(e).

(2) The requestor is a party, as defined in paragraph (e) of this section.

(3) The amount remaining in controversy meets the requirements of § 405.1006(b) or (c).

(4) If there is more than one party to the reconsideration, hearing, or Council review, each party concurs, in writing, with the request for the EAJR.