US · guidance
CMS Pub. 100-16, ch. 14, § 20.2
Hearing Officers
CMS appoints a hearing officer to conduct the hearing. The hearing officer does not need
to be an administrative law judge (ALJ). In exercising his or her authority, the hearing
officer must comply with the provisions of Title XVIII and related provisions of the Act,
the regulations issued by the Secretary, and general instructions issued by CMS in
implementing the Act.
Hearing officers may not conduct a hearing in any case in which they are prejudiced or
partial about any of the parties involved, or if they have any interest in the matter before
them. If a party to the hearing objects to the hearing officer conducting the case, they
must inform the officer in writing at the earliest opportunity. The hearing officer will
consider the objections and decide whether to proceed with the hearing or withdraw.
Vesting the hearing officer with the authority to make his or her own determination
regarding the ability to be fair and impartial, subject to appeal only after the matter at
hand is heard on the merits, is the same approach used with respect to judges in court
proceedings.
If the hearing officer withdraws, CMS will appoint a different hearing officer. If the
officer does not withdraw when a party has made objections, the objecting party may
present post-hearing objections to CMS, and request a revision of the decision or a new
hearing before a different hearing officer. Any requests by the objecting party must be
made in writing to CMS.
History
(Rev. 122, Issued: 05-27-16, Effective: 06-28-16, Implementation: 06-28-16)
Provenance
- Source
- cms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-25
- Edition
- iom-2026-08-25
- Content hash
1e2c41282df7491eb9fc9ae0d14a77249e7fecc4fe13af15bb243df5f3457136
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