HPRP Michigan – What Healthcare Providers Need to Know Before Deciding

Michigan’s Health Professional Recovery Program, known as HPRP, is a monitoring program that HPRP Michigan healthcare professionals encounter most often after a criminal charge raises the question of an underlying substance use or mental health disorder. It is described as voluntary and non-disciplinary. In practice it functions more like a condition of continued licensure, and the Monitoring Agreement it requires is a notarized legal document that can govern every aspect of a practitioner’s professional and personal life for years. In practice, it functions more like a condition of continued licensure, and the Monitoring Agreement it requires is a notarized legal document that can govern every aspect of a practitioner’s professional and personal life for years.

The decision to enter HPRP, and when to enter, is among the most consequential decisions a Michigan healthcare professional can make after an alcohol or drug-related charge. It should never be made without coordination between a criminal defense attorney and a healthcare licensing attorney.

When Does a Criminal Charge Put HPRP Michigan Healthcare Professionals at Risk?

HPRP becomes relevant to a Michigan licensed healthcare professional most often not because of a substance use diagnosis discovered in isolation, but because a criminal charge has brought the possibility of an underlying disorder into view. A licensing board, an employer, or HPRP itself may initiate contact with a practitioner following an arrest, a conviction, or a self-disclosure triggered by the reporting obligations that attach to criminal matters.

The most common gateway is after an impaired or intoxicated driving arrest. A DUI for licensed healthcare professionals placed them at the intersection of the criminal justice system and the professional licensing system simultaneously, and the decisions made in the first days after an arrest shape both proceedings in ways most practitioners do not anticipate.

An OWI or DUI charge or doctors is not the only pathway. Other criminal charges include drug diversion charges, prescription fraud, drug possession, sex offense charges and other criminal conduct that suggests an underlying substance use or mental health disorder can produce the same referral dynamic. The licensing board’s interest is not limited to the specific crime. It extends to the question of whether the practitioner’s fitness to practice may be affected by an underlying condition, and any criminal matter that raises that question can initiate HPRP contact.

Licensed physicians, nurses, pharmacists, mental health professionals, and other practitioners face category-specific licensing consequences that run parallel to and interact with HPRP in distinct ways. Understanding how HPRP fits within that broader consequence framework is essential before any decision about the program is made.

The Barone Defense Firm represents licensed healthcare professionals facing criminal charges across the full range of charge types and professional license categories, coordinating criminal defense strategy and healthcare licensing strategy from the earliest stage of every matter.

What Is HPRP and How Does It Work?

HPRP was created by the Michigan Legislature in 1994 under MCL § 333.16105aat the request of healthcare professional associations seeking a non-disciplinary alternative to licensing board action for practitioners with substance use or mental health disorders.

The program is administered through a private contractor under the oversight of the Health Professional Recovery Committee, which operates within LARA’s Bureau of Professional Licensing. A participant’s primary contact is a case manager employed by the contractor.

The program is administered through a private contractor under the oversight of the Health Professional Recovery Committee, which operates within LARA’s Bureau of Professional Licensing. A participant’s primary contact is a case manager employed by the contractor. HPRP Michigan healthcare professionals include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and every other category of licensed practitioner regulated by LARA.

Participation begins with an intake process that includes questions about substance use history, mental health history, and pending or past legal matters. If the intake establishes a need for evaluation, the participant is referred to HPRP-approved evaluators for a complete psychosocial and medical assessment.

If the evaluation identifies a qualifying diagnosis, a Monitoring Agreement is developed. That agreement is a notarized contract between the participant and HPRP. It does not take effect until the participant signs it before a notary and an HPRP representative endorses it.

What the HPRP Monitoring Agreement Requires of Michigan Healthcare Professionals

The Monitoring Agreement is not an administrative enrollment form. It is a formal legal document that sets binding conditions for the duration of the monitoring period. Understanding what it requires before signing is essential.

The specific conditions vary by diagnosis and individual circumstances, but the Non-Regulatory Substance Use Disorder agreement, which is the most common form, includes the following obligations.

Every weekday, including holidays, the participant must check in with RecoveryTrek, the platform HPRP uses to administer random drug screening notifications. Failing to check in between 4 AM and 11:59 PM on any weekday counts as a missed check-in. When the system calls for a screen, the participant must submit a specimen that same day by 11:59 PM or the test is recorded as missed.

A missed test carries the same weight as a failed test. HPRP will not excuse missed screens without written approval from the participant’s HPRP therapist and addiction medicine provider in advance. Family emergencies and funerals are not automatic exceptions.

The participant is required to attend a minimum of three weekly mutual help meetings. At least one Caduceus meeting per month is also required. Attendance logs must be signed by the meeting leader and submitted to HPRP by the tenth of every month.

The participant must obtain a sponsor within sixty days of signing the agreement and maintain that sponsor relationship for the duration of monitoring. Written verification from the sponsor is submitted quarterly.

Every prescription and over-the-counter medication must be approved by the HPRP Addiction Medicine Provider. If the participant is hospitalized and requires mood-altering or controlled substances, HPRP must be notified within forty-eight hours. Accepting any mood-altering substance without prior approval from the HPRP Addiction Medicine Provider constitutes non-compliance and extends the agreement.

Every employment change, every new worksite, and every change in worksite monitor requires advance written approval from HPRP. A participant cannot move to a new practice group, change hospital systems, or begin any volunteer or orientation role without obtaining that approval first.

The participant must practice only under the supervision of an HPRP-approved worksite monitor who is aware of the monitoring agreement and reports to HPRP quarterly. Hours of practice are restricted to between 5 AM and midnight, with a maximum of twelve hours per shift and forty hours per week unless HPRP approves otherwise.

Any absence from Michigan requires a completed leave request form signed by all treating providers, submitted two weeks in advance. Drug screening obligations continue during approved leave.

All costs are the participant’s responsibility. These include evaluation fees, individual therapy, group therapy, addiction medicine provider visits, drug testing, and all quarterly reporting. The administrative program itself is funded through professional licensure fees, but treatment costs are not covered by the program.

How Long Does HPRP Monitoring Last?

The standard Monitoring Agreement runs a minimum of two years, but agreements are often three years in practice. The agreement does not end automatically at the two-year mark.

Successful completion requires a minimum of two years of documented abstinence, compliance with all conditions, and written closure approval from all treating providers and HPRP. A participant continues under all obligations until written closure documentation is received from HPRP.

Any non-compliance with the agreement’s conditions can extend the monitoring period. Missed drug tests, positive screens, insufficient group participation, or failure to maintain required provider relationships are among the violations that can result in a time-in-contract extension. Practitioners who have experienced repeated extensions sometimes describe the dynamic, said colloquially, as like the Hotel California: “you can check in any time – but you can’t ever leave.”

The HPRP also reserves the right to modify the terms of the agreement unilaterally at any time to protect public health or facilitate the participant’s recovery. A participant’s failure to accept modifications constitutes a breach of the agreement.

Non-Regulatory vs Regulatory HPRP Referrals for Michigan Healthcare Professionals

This distinction is among the most important and least understood aspects of HPRP, and it determines whether a practitioner’s participation remains confidential.

A non-regulatory referral occurs when a healthcare professional voluntarily self-refers to HPRP before any board action has been taken on their license. Under the Public Health Code, the participant’s name cannot be given to the public, cannot be reported to LARA’s allegations section, and cannot be obtained through subpoena or a Freedom of Information Act request, as long as the participant complies with program requirements. A non-regulatory participant can return to work without regulatory action on their license.

A regulatory referral occurs as a result of a board order. It carries none of the confidentiality protections of a non-regulatory referral because board orders are public documents under FOIA. Regulatory participation is not confidential.

The pathway a practitioner enters through, voluntary self-referral versus board-ordered participation, determines the entire confidentiality framework of their participation. That determination is made at the moment of entry and cannot be changed afterward.

Does HPRP Participation Protect Against Licensing Board Action?

This is a question practitioners frequently assume they know the answer to, and they are frequently wrong.

The Monitoring Agreement itself addresses this directly. The final substantive paragraph states: participation in HPRP does not preclude LARA, the Health Professional Board, or the Disciplinary Subcommittee from taking disciplinary action. HPRP is a recovery monitoring program. It is not a substitute for the licensing board’s independent authority over a practitioner’s fitness to practice, and it does not function as a bar to board action.

What Happens If a Practitioner Refuses to Sign or Comply?

Under MCL § 333.16168, if a practitioner refuses to follow through with a recommended evaluation or treatment, or refuses to sign a Monitoring Agreement, HPRP is required to close the file as non-compliant and refer it to LARA’s Bureau of Professional Licensing.

At that point, the case is no longer confidential. LARA may investigate the practitioner’s fitness to practice, take regulatory action including suspension or revocation of the license, and report any subsequent regulatory action to national data banks. Refusal to comply, in other words, produces the consequences that HPRP participation was designed to avoid, and potentially more severe ones.

The same consequence framework applies to non-compliant participation. A practitioner who enters HPRP and then fails to meet the agreement’s conditions faces non-compliant closure and mandatory referral to LARA, with the same potential consequences as an outright refusal.

The Strategic Decision: When HPRP Avoidance Is the Goal

In our experience working with HPRP Michigan healthcare professionals, the goal of coordinating criminal defense counsel and healthcare licensing counsel from the earliest possible stage, is to build a record that positions the practitioner favorably enough at the time the offense is reported that board-ordered HPRP monitoring may potentially be avoidable.

That is not an outcome that can be promised, and it cannot be achieved in every case. But the practitioner who arrives before the licensing board with documented, sustained, authentic recovery engagement already established, on their own terms, presents a fundamentally different picture than one who has not yet begun that work.

The standard the licensing board applies in this analysis is demanding. As a rough guideline drawn from experience, practitioners who can demonstrate full and sustained remission for at least twelve months at the time the conviction is reported to LARA are generally in a stronger position.

That record cannot be built after the licensing proceeding opens. It requires deliberate recovery engagement that begins early in the criminal case, coordinated between criminal defense counsel, healthcare licensing counsel, and the practitioner’s clinical team simultaneously.

The full consequence framework that governs how criminal charges affect licensed healthcare professionals in Michigan, including how criminal defense strategy must be built around the licensing outcome from the first day, is developed in the firm’s analysis of criminal charges and licensed healthcare professionals in Michigan.

The Dual Purpose of Early Recovery Engagement

That same recovery record serves a second equally important purpose: it is the foundation of the sentencing mitigation narrative presented to the court. The criminal case and the licensing proceeding share the same evidentiary foundation. The record built for the sentencing judge is the same record the licensing board will evaluate.

Sentencing mitigation is a specialty of this firm, supported by of-counsel expertise from attorney Doug Passon, an internationally recognized sentencing advocate and award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal.

Together, he and Mr. Barone have developed an approach that uses psychodramatic action techniques to uncover the emotional and psychological depth of a client’s life that standard sentencing advocacy does not reach, applying role-playing methods from the therapeutic tradition to reveal the human narrative behind a client’s circumstances.

Mr. Passon is available to work directly with clients when the stakes are highest, bringing his full methodology to bear on cases where that level of investment is warranted, including sentencing mitigation video production. His expertise is part of the firm’s overall approach to healthcare professional representation.

Supporting and guiding clients through recovery when it would be helpful to them personally, professionally, or legally is central to how we approach every healthcare professional matter. HPRP, in our experience, is most often not the path that produces the best outcome for recovery or for the career. The goal is to help each client win back their life, on terms that work for them.

Frequently Asked Questions: HPRP Michigan Healthcare Professionals

Is HPRP Truly Voluntary, and What Does That Mean for Michigan Healthcare Professionals?

HPRP is described as a voluntary program. In practice, it frequently functions as a condition of continued licensure, because the alternatives to entering, or to failing to comply once enrolled, frequently produce consequences that are worse than participation itself, and may include the inability to maintain licensure.

The decision to enter, when to enter, and through which pathway, non-regulatory or regulatory, determines the entire framework of a practitioner’s rights and obligations in the program. It should never be made without coordination between a criminal defense attorney and a healthcare licensing attorney.

How Long Does HPRP Monitoring Last?

The standard Monitoring Agreement runs a minimum of two years, but agreements are often three years in practice. Violations of the agreement’s conditions, including missed drug tests, positive screens, or insufficient group participation, can extend the agreement further.

The agreement does not end at the minimum term automatically. It ends only when all treating providers endorse closure and HPRP issues written closure documentation. A participant continues under all obligations until that written notification is received.

What Does the HPRP Monitoring Agreement Actually Require?

The Monitoring Agreement is a notarized legal contract requiring daily weekday check-ins through the RecoveryTrek platform, three weekly mutual help meetings plus at least one monthly Caduceus meeting, random drug screens where a missed test carries the same weight as a failed test, prior written HPRP approval for all employment changes, and approval of every prescription and over-the-counter medication.

All costs are the participant’s responsibility. The agreement must be shared with worksite monitors, treating physicians, and therapists, each of whom submits quarterly reports to HPRP throughout the monitoring period.

Does HPRP Participation Protect Against Licensing Board Action?

No. The Monitoring Agreement states explicitly that participation in HPRP does not preclude LARA, the Health Professional Board, or the Disciplinary Subcommittee from taking disciplinary action. HPRP is a recovery monitoring program, not a bar to licensing board authority.

A practitioner who enters HPRP expecting it to substitute for a favorable licensing outcome will find that the two proceedings operate entirely independently of each other.

What Is the Difference Between a Non-Regulatory and Regulatory HPRP Referral?

A non-regulatory referral, meaning a voluntary self-referral before any board action, triggers confidentiality protections under the Public Health Code. The practitioner’s name cannot be given to the public, reported to LARA’s allegations section, or obtained by subpoena or FOIA request.

A regulatory referral, meaning board-ordered participation, carries none of those protections because board orders are public documents. The pathway entered determines the entire confidentiality framework and cannot be changed after entry.

Can HPRP Michigan Healthcare Professionals Avoid Monitoring After an OWI Charge?

Avoiding board-ordered HPRP monitoring is a realistic goal in some cases, not a guaranteed outcome. It requires early coordinated action between criminal defense counsel and a healthcare licensing attorney, beginning well before the conviction is reported to LARA.

As a rough guideline drawn from experience, practitioners who can demonstrate full and sustained remission for at least twelve months at the time the conviction is reported are generally in a stronger position before the licensing board. Building that record requires deliberate, authentic recovery engagement that begins at the earliest stage of the criminal matter.

What Happens if a Practitioner Refuses to Sign the Monitoring Agreement?

Under MCL § 333.16168, refusal triggers mandatory non-compliant closure and referral to LARA’s Bureau of Professional Licensing. The case is no longer confidential, and LARA may investigate fitness to practice, take regulatory action including license suspension or revocation, and report any regulatory action to national data banks.

Refusal, in other words, produces the consequences that HPRP was designed to avoid, and potentially more severe ones. It is not a neutral exit from the process.

Protect Your License, Your Career, and Your Path to Recovery

If you are among the HPRP Michigan healthcare professionals who have received an alcohol or drug-related charge, at the Barone Defense Firm, we coordinate criminal defense strategy and healthcare licensing strategy from the earliest stage of every matter, working to position each client in the strongest possible posture before the licensing board, and to pursue recovery on terms that serve the client’s personal, professional, and legal interests simultaneously.

To schedule a confidential consultation, call 1-877-ALL-MICH (877-255-6424), or contact us online. Consultations are available around the clock.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Barone is the founding attorney of the Barone Defense Firm and has represented licensed healthcare professionals at the intersection of criminal defense and professional licensing for more than three decades. His undergraduate training in biology on a pre-medical track, combined with his co-authored analysis of DSM-5 substance use disorder criteria with Dr. Elizabeth Corby, published through the State Appellate Defender Office, gives him a clinical foundation that most criminal defense attorneys do not bring to licensing matters.

Also, his published analysis of criminal accusations and collateral consequences for licensed healthcare professionals examines how a conviction sets multiple regulatory proceedings in motion simultaneously.

He is a Board Certified TEP, the highest certification level in psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy through the American Board of Examiners, applying therapeutic narrative techniques to client preparation and sentencing advocacy. He is the only attorney in Michigan to hold this credential. He has been recognized as a Michigan Super Lawyer continuously since 2007, is listed in Best Lawyers in America, and has been selected as a Leading Lawyer and serves on the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board.