California § 1366.1 - The department shall adopt regulations on or before July 1, 2003, that establish

§ 1366.1. The department shall adopt regulations on or before July 1, 2003, that establish

(a) The department shall adopt regulations on or before July 1, 2003, that establish an extended geographic accessibility standard for access to health care providers served by a health care service plan in counties with a population of 500,000 or less, and that, as of January 1, 2002, have two or fewer health care service plans providing coverage to the entire county in the commercial market. (b) This section shall not apply to specialized health care service plans or health care service plan contracts that provide benefits to enrollees through any of the following: (1) Preferred provider contracting arrangements. (2) The Medi-Cal program. (3) The Healthy Families Program. (4) The federal Medicare program. (c) At least 30 days before a health care service plan files a notice of material modification of its license with the department to withdraw from a county with a population of 500,000 or less, the health care service plan shall hold a public meeting in the county from which it is intending to withdraw, and shall do all of the following: (1) Provide notice announcing the public meeting at least 30 days prior to the public meeting to all affected enrollees, health care providers with which it contracts, the members of the board of supervisors of the affected county, the members of the city councils of cities in the affected county, and members of the Legislature who represent the affected county. (2) Provide notice announcing the public meeting at least 15 days prior to the public meeting in a newspaper of general circulation within the affected county. (3) At the public meeting, allow testimony, which may be limited to a certain length of time by the health care service plan, of all interested parties. (4) File with the department for review, no less than 30 days prior to the date of mailing or publication, the notices required under paragraphs (1) and (2). (d) The department may require a health care service plan that has filed to withdraw from a portion of a county with a population of less than 500,000, to hold a hearing for affected enrollees. (e) A representative of the department shall attend the public meeting described in this section.