(a) Opportunity for the aggrieved party, after his or her review of the LCD record, to state why the LCD is not valid. Upon receipt of the contractor's LCD record, the aggrieved party files a statement explaining why the contractor's LCD record is not complete, or not adequate to support the validity of the LCD under the reasonableness standard. This statement must be submitted to the ALJ and to the contractor, or CMS, as appropriate, within 30 days (or within the additional time as allowed by the ALJ for good cause shown) of the date the aggrieved party receives the contractor's LCD record.

(b) Contractor response. The contractor has 30 days after receiving the aggrieved party's statement to submit a response to the ALJ in order to defend the LCD.

(c) ALJ evaluation.

(1) After the aggrieved party files a statement and the contractor responds, as described in §426.425(a) and §426.425(b), or the time for filing has expired, the ALJ applies the reasonableness standard to determine whether the LCD record is complete and adequate to support the validity of the LCD.

(2) Issuance of a decision finding the record complete and adequate to support the validity of the LCD ends the review process.

(3) If the ALJ determines that the LCD record is not complete and adequate to support the validity of the LCD, the ALJ permits discovery and the taking of evidence in accordance with §§426.432 and 426.440 and evaluates the LCD in accordance with §426.431.

(d) The process described in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section applies when an LCD record has been supplemented, except that discovery and the taking of evidence are not repeated. The period for the aggrieved party to file a statement begins when the aggrieved party receives the supplement.