Michigan License Reinstatement

Author: A. Ant, CADC-II, Licensing & Accreditation Expert

Disclaimer: This content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, regulatory, or licensing advice. Requirements change frequently. Consult qualified professionals for guidance specific to your situation.

Michigan doesn’t use the word “reinstatement” for substance use disorder program licenses or adult foster care licenses. We checked Part 62 of the Public Health Code, the SUD rules LARA revised effective June 3, 2026, and the Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act, and none of them sets up a reinstatement process. What they do set up is a renewal deadline with an automatic closure, an enforcement and hearing sequence, and waiting periods that can keep a former licensee out for years. For filing, LARA’s Non-Long Term Care page now routes licenses, changes, and renewals through MI-SLS, the Michigan State Licensing System.

LARA’s Enforcement Process for SUD Programs

Routine inspection isn’t the only way a facility ends up on LARA’s radar. MCL 333.6238(2) requires LARA to visit each licensed SUD program at least once every three years for survey and evaluation, and complaint investigations come on top of that, unannounced (R 325.1307). An accredited program can ask LARA to waive the routine visit under R 325.1309, though a denied waiver request can’t be appealed and simply means a survey that year. The rule leaves the list of approved accrediting bodies to LARA instead of naming them. CARF, The Joint Commission and COA are what we find Michigan SUD programs using, but a program coming back from a lapse should ask LARA whether its accreditor is on the department’s list before it counts on skipping a survey. After a complaint investigation LARA owes the program its written findings within 30 days (R 325.1313). The SUD rules don’t spell out a formal plan-of-correction step, so the practical job after a citation is fixing the problem in a way you can document, which in our experience is what keeps a finding from growing into something larger.

Part 62 gives LARA its tools in one sentence: it may deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a license “after opportunity for a hearing” (MCL 333.6243). For revocation or nonrenewal, R 325.1323 sets the order of events. LARA sends a notice of intent by certified mail stating its reasons. The licensee has 30 days to file a written appeal, and a compliance conference is held at least 45 days after the notice, where the licensee gets the chance to show it meets the requirements. If the matter isn’t resolved there, LARA requests a formal hearing under sections 71 to 92 of the Administrative Procedures Act. Miss the 30-day window and LARA may revoke or decline to renew, with no administrative appeal left. Separately, when a violation puts recipients’ health, safety, or welfare at risk and the provider hasn’t taken remedial action, LARA can summarily suspend the license (R 325.1317) and must then promptly request a formal hearing (R 325.1325), in line with the emergency provision in MCL 24.292. R 325.1323 was itself amended in the June 3, 2026 revision, so check any notice you receive against the current text.

Adult Foster Care Enforcement Runs Through Its Own Track

A dual-licensed operator needs to track two separate enforcement histories, not one. A residential mental health home licensed as an adult foster care facility answers to the Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act (1979 PA 218), not to Part 62. LARA is the “department” under that act too (MCL 400.704), but the steps differ. Under MCL 400.722, LARA can deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew an AFC license, or knock a regular license down to provisional status. The licensee gets written notice of the grounds and 30 days to appeal in writing to the director, and the appeal leads to a contested case hearing under the Administrative Procedures Act. Unlike the SUD rules, the AFC Act does use correction plans: a six-month provisional license is contingent on an acceptable plan of correction (MCL 400.717). Our reading is that a citation under one framework doesn’t automatically count against the other license, but both files sit with the same agency, so expect LARA to know about both.

Building a Credible Response

A written plan that never gets tested doesn’t move the needle with a reviewer. A serious response to any Michigan licensing finding means demonstrating the underlying issue is actually corrected, with policy changes implemented, staff retrained and that training verified, and the fix sustained over time rather than a plan that exists only on paper. Because the SUD rules changed on June 3, 2026, look at which version of a rule the finding cites before you write anything, and if the citation predates the revision, ask LARA’s Non-Long Term Care State Licensing Section (1-833-757-7308, LARA-BCHS-NLTCSLS@michigan.gov) which text it is applying.

Reapplying After a Lapse or Revocation

There’s no faster lane here, so plan accordingly. Michigan’s licensing statutes and rules don’t describe a reinstatement track, so a license that ends usually means a new application. How it ended matters a great deal.

A lapse is the more common story. Per LARA’s Non-Long Term Care page, annual renewal notices are posted in MI-SLS in the second quarter, and renewals must be paid no later than July 31. Under R 325.1305 a license not renewed within 30 days after it expires must be closed, and that closure can’t be appealed. The Non-Long Term Care page adds that any license not renewed by September 1 is closed with a notice to the provider, and that a provider’s non-renewal by that date isn’t considered a refusal to renew under MCL 333.20165 and MCL 333.6238. We read that as keeping a plain lapse outside the waiting period described below, though LARA hasn’t said so in those words. Also watch the 12-month rule in R 325.1305: a license can’t be renewed if the location hasn’t offered the covered service during the 12 months before renewal.

Revocation or a denied renewal is a different situation. R 325.1319 allows LARA to refuse a license for at least three years to a person, director, officer, or organization that had a license revoked or a renewal denied, and LARA can reject that application on its face. The rejection isn’t appealable, and neither is the denial of an ordinary application under R 325.1321, so a new applicant has no hearing to fall back on. The AFC Act has its own version: after suspending, revoking, or refusing to renew a license, LARA may refuse to license that person for five years (MCL 400.713(10)). Before refiling, call the Non-Long Term Care State Licensing Section for an SUD program, or LARA’s adult foster care licensing staff for a residential mental health home, and expect a new SUD application to go through MI-SLS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Trying to confirm which rule text your Michigan finding is being measured against? Reach out here.

Sources

• LARA, Substance Use Disorder Administrative Rules, R 325.1305, 325.1307, 325.1309, 325.1313, 325.1317 to 325.1325 (effective June 3, 2026): SUD Administrative Rules (PDF) (checked October 8, 2026)
• LARA, Bureau of Community and Health Systems: Non-Long Term Care State Licensing (MI-SLS filing, renewal notices, July 31 payment, September 1 closure, section contact) (checked October 8, 2026)
• Public Health Code, Part 62, MCL 333.6238, 333.6243: Article 6, Substance Use Disorders (checked October 8, 2026)
• Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act, MCL 400.704, 400.713, 400.717, 400.722: 1979 PA 218 (checked October 8, 2026)
• Administrative Procedures Act of 1969, MCL 24.292: Licenses; summary suspension (checked October 8, 2026)