The director shall, in considering suspension or deletion of drugs from the list of contract drugs, ensure that the department has the ability to process drug treatment authorization requests (TARs) without substantial degradation of the level of service, including response time, to providers which was in effect July 1, 1990.

In considering suspension or deletion of drugs, the director shall seek the advice of the Chief of the Field Services Branch and the Medi-Cal Contract Drug Advisory Committee.

If the treatment authorization request reports provided in subdivision (b) of Section 14105.42 indicate a substantial degradation in the level of service, including response time, for processing TARs, the director shall, within 60 days, hold a public hearing on the functioning of the TAR system.

Subsequent to the hearing, the director shall consult with at least two members of each group represented on the Medi-Cal Contract Drug Advisory Committee as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 14105.4 and take appropriate action to remedy the problem areas discussed in the report and in the public hearing.

Based upon the information gathered as a result of the reports and public hearing referred to above, and in consultation with the Medi-Cal Contract Drug Advisory Committee, the director may add drugs which previously had been suspended or deleted to the list of contract drugs.

(Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 457, Sec. 13. Effective July 31, 1990.)