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.
Minnesota counts the cost of a revoked license in years, and it charges that cost to people as well as programs. Under Minn. Stat. 245A.04, subd. 7(d), once a license is revoked, the license holder and each affiliated controlling individual “may not hold any license under chapter 245A for five years following the revocation,” and the other “licenses affiliated with each controlling individual shall also be revoked.” A denial carries a two-year bar on a new license. There’s no reinstatement application in chapter 245A. A former licensee comes back, if at all, as a new applicant after the bar runs or through one of the narrow exceptions the commissioner can apply. For licenses issued by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) under chapters 245G, 245F and 245I, that is the frame for everything below.
Who the Five-Year Bar Reaches
The quoted language in this section comes straight from 245A.04, subd. 7.
The bar is written to follow the individuals behind a program. No license may issue where the applicant, the license holder or an affiliated controlling individual “had a license issued under this chapter or chapter 142B revoked within the past five years” or was “denied a license under this chapter or chapter 142B within the past two years.” Forming a new company with the same owners or managers doesn’t reset the clock, in our reading. An operator who holds several DHS licenses can lose the healthy ones along with the one that failed, because the revocation sweeps in licenses affiliated with each controlling individual.
The statute leaves the commissioner some room. Subdivision 7(e) lets the commissioner choose not to revoke an affiliated license where the program is in substantial compliance and it serves the community’s best interest. Subdivision 7(f) allows a new license for an application affiliated with someone who had an application denied in the past two years or a license revoked in the past five, if that person’s other programs show substantial compliance and licensure is in the community’s best interests. Subdivision 7(g) lists what the commissioner weighs, including how many people the program serves, whether alternative services exist, the management structure and whether services are culturally specific. Laws 2026, chapter 121 amended subdivision 7, and DHS describes that change as the new consultant attestation. We haven’t read the amended text and don’t take the bars to have changed, but confirm before relying on that.
How DHS Escalates, and How Long You Have to Answer
Most enforcement in Minnesota starts well short of revocation. A licensor issues a correction order, and beyond that the commissioner has a conditional license, fines, suspension and revocation available (245A.06 and 245A.07). Under 245A.07, subd. 1, the choice of sanction weighs the nature, chronicity and severity of the violation. Each step has its own deadline, and they’re short.
| DHS action | Your deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Correction order | Request reconsideration within 20 calendar days after receipt | 245A.06, subd. 2 |
| Conditional license | Request reconsideration within 10 calendar days after receiving the order | 245A.06, subd. 4 |
| Temporary immediate suspension | Appeal within 5 calendar days after receiving notice | 245A.07, subd. 2 |
| Suspension, revocation or fine | Appeal within 10 calendar days after receiving notice | 245A.07, subd. 3 |
| Closure for 12 months with no clients served | Request reconsideration within 20 calendar days | 245A.055 |
A timely appeal of a fine “shall stay payment of the fine until the commissioner issues a final order.” Under the 2025 statute text, fines run $1,000 for each determination of maltreatment, $5,000 for serious maltreatment, $200 for each occurrence of a violation of law or rule governing health, safety or supervision, and $100 for each occurrence of other violations. The 2026 legislature amended 245A.07, subd. 3, but DHS’s 2026 implementation plan for SUD programs describes that change as one about temporary immediate suspension hearings, not fine amounts. We read the amounts above as still in force.
Temporary immediate suspension is the action to fear most. Since July 1, 2025, according to DHS’s 2025 SUD plan, the commissioner can suspend immediately when the license holder or a controlling individual is the subject of a pending administrative, civil or criminal investigation tied to fraud. From July 1, 2026, DHS’s 2026 SUD plan says a preponderance of the evidence is the burden of proof at hearings in those fraud cases, and DHS can keep a license suspended after the temporary period ends while the fraud matter is still pending.
What a 245A.08 Hearing Looks Like
An appeal of a sanction becomes a contested case. When DHS receives it, the commissioner “shall issue a notice of and order for hearing to the appellant under chapter 14” (245A.08, subd. 1). You can bring a lawyer and call and cross-examine witnesses (subd. 2). The burden matters. Once DHS shows reasonable cause for its action, “the burden of proof shifts to the license holder to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence” that it complied (subd. 3(a)), and in a denial the applicant carries that burden from the start (subd. 3(b)). An administrative law judge recommends whether the order should stand, and the commissioner “shall consider, but shall not be bound by,” that recommendation (subd. 5). Seeking judicial review doesn’t stop DHS from enforcing the final order, except where Minn. Stat. 14.65 allows a stay. In practice the hearing is usually won or lost on the documents you can produce, which is why the record you build during the correction-order stage matters so much. That last point is our experience.
Lapsed Licenses and Inactivity
Not every lost license involves a sanction. Minnesota licenses carry annual fees under 245A.10, and DHS’s 2025 SUD plan says renewal invoices go out in late September. Separately, 245A.055 lets the commissioner close a license when no client has been served for 12 consecutive months, with 20 calendar days to ask for reconsideration. A closure like that isn’t a revocation, so in our reading the five-year bar in 245A.04, subd. 7 doesn’t attach to it. The program would still be starting over as a new applicant.
Coming Back as a New Applicant
Because chapter 245A has no reinstatement track, a return means a full new application. For a substance use disorder program that brings back every front-end step covered in our Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Inpatient Treatment Licensing and Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Outpatient Treatment Licensing guides: written notice to the county human services director at least 60 days before applying (254B.03, subd. 2), the $2,100 application fee (245A.10), and, from July 1, 2026, the attestation on outside consultant help that DHS’s 2026 SUD plan describes under 245A.04, subd. 1(j) for applicants that receive public funds.
Your history follows the application. Section 245A.05 lets the commissioner deny a license for “a history of noncompliance as a license holder or controlling individual with applicable laws or rules,” and for false or misleading information. A program with a conditional, suspended or revoked license in the past five years also can’t use the Joint Commission alternative inspection route in 245G.031 until that window passes. Expect the full DHS inspection cycle on the way back.
Using the 20-Day Reconsideration Window
Count the 20 days carefully. Under 245A.06, subd. 2 the clock runs from receipt of a correction order sent by mail, but for an order issued through DHS’s provider hub it runs from the date the commissioner issued it, which can be earlier than the day someone at the program opens the notice. In our experience the requests that get somewhere pick one lane. Either they contest a specific finding with records that contradict it, or they concede the finding and attach what changed, with dates, so the licensor can see the new practice already running. Mixing the two tends to read as neither. That approach is ours, not something DHS prescribes. Questions about a specific order go to the licensing unit at dhs.mhcdlicensing@state.mn.us or 651-431-6500.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a revoked Minnesota DHS license be reinstated?
Chapter 245A has no reinstatement process. After a revocation, the license holder and each affiliated controlling individual may not hold any chapter 245A license for five years under Minn. Stat. 245A.04, subd. 7(d), unless the commissioner applies one of the exceptions in subd. 7(e) to (g). Returning means a new application.
How long do I have to appeal a DHS license revocation?
Ten calendar days after receiving notice for a suspension, revocation or fine under 245A.07, subd. 3. A temporary immediate suspension must be appealed within five calendar days, and a correction order reconsideration is due within 20 calendar days.
Does a DHS license denial bar a new application in Minnesota?
Yes, for two years. Minn. Stat. 245A.04, subd. 7 bars a new license where the applicant or an affiliated controlling individual was denied a license within the past two years, subject to the commissioner’s limited exceptions.
Facing a correction order or sanction deadline in Minnesota? Get in touch.
Sources
- Minn. Stat. 245A.04: Application procedures, subd. 7 bars and exceptions (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. ch. 245A (incl. 245A.05, 245A.055, 245A.06): Human Services Licensing (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. 245A.07: Sanctions (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. 245A.08: Hearings (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. 245A.10: Fees (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. 254B.03: County notice before new 245G licensure (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minn. Stat. 245G.031: Alternative licensing inspections (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minnesota DHS: SUD 2025 Legislative Changes Implementation Plan (PDF) (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minnesota DHS: SUD implementation plan for 2026 legislative changes (PDF) (checked October 11, 2026)
- Minnesota DHS: Substance use disorder treatment licensing (licensing unit contact) (checked October 11, 2026)
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