Substance Use Evaluation for Licensed Professionals in Minnesota

Independent, private-pay clinical evaluation conducted by secure telehealth across Minnesota.

A substance use evaluation tied to your professional license carries weight that other evaluations do not. It can affect your license, the conditions you practice under, your return to work, and monitoring that may last for years. How rigorous the evaluation is, how independent the evaluator is, and how clearly the report is written all affect how it lands with the board, program, or employer reviewing it.

Arlucent provides independent, private-pay substance use evaluations for licensed professionals across Minnesota, done by secure video. They follow the ASAM Criteria, Minnesota’s DHS 245G standards, and standard DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnoses. We only evaluate: no treatment, no therapy, no referrals, and no ongoing relationship.

Read this first, because it may save you time. Arlucent is not currently on the Minnesota Health Professionals Services Program (HPSP) approved evaluator panel. If your situation specifically requires an HPSP-designated evaluator, you need the HPSP-approved panel, not us. Some licensing boards and some employers have similar designated-evaluator requirements, so check what your board or employer requires before booking with any independent provider, including this one.

Where an independent evaluation is allowed, or is specifically what you want, we can help. That includes an independent review of an HPSP or other designated-evaluator finding, a second opinion on a prior licensure-related assessment, employer-required evaluations where an independent evaluator is accepted, board processes where independent evaluators are accepted or where there is no designated panel, return-to-practice evaluations where the authority accepts independent documentation, and evaluations you seek on your own initiative before a disclosure to a regulator or an employer.

Whether your matter fits is confirmed at intake. That review identifies whether your authority requires a designated evaluator, what documentation is needed, and whether we are the right fit or you should be pointed elsewhere.

Before a disclosure. You expect something to come up, a complaint response, a renewal question, a self-report obligation, or a disclosure to your employer, and you want an independent clinical picture before you engage that process. It helps you think through what to disclose, how to respond, and whether to take any steps on your own first. The report is yours. It goes to no one else unless you authorize it.

An independent review of a prior evaluation. A designated evaluator, an employer-chosen clinician, or a treatment-program-affiliated assessor reached findings that you or your attorney want independently reviewed. We apply the ASAM framework to the documented picture and the records behind it, and produce a parallel document that can sit alongside the original. These are usually done at one of the deeper two levels.

Returning to practice. You have been away, whether because of substance use, treatment, a licensure action, or a voluntary leave, and you need an evaluation to support going back. This asks a different question than an initial evaluation. Rather than establishing whether a condition exists and how severe it is at one moment, it looks at how your situation has moved over the time you were away, what you actually engaged with during that period, and how where you are now lines up with what the role you are returning to demands. The report is built to support the return-to-work decision, not to re-litigate what caused the absence.

An employer requires it. A hospital system, group practice, law firm, agency, or other employer has required an evaluation as a condition of staying, of returning from leave, or as part of an internal review. The clinical method is the same as a board-required evaluation; what differs is who receives it. The report goes to you, and to the employer with your authorization. Your interests and the employer’s are kept clearly distinct in how the report is written.

A second opinion on a designated evaluation. You have been through a designated evaluation, HPSP or a board-designated evaluator or similar, and want it independently reviewed. To be clear about what this is: an independent second opinion does not replace the designated evaluation. That remains the document your authority recognizes. What a second opinion gives you is a parallel clinical reference that you, your attorney, and the deciding authority can weigh alongside it.

The evaluation is a structured conversation, guided by the ASAM Criteria. We go through your history: substance use, any past assessments or treatment, your mental health, relevant medical background, and the licensure or employment circumstances that brought you here. We use standard screening tools where they help. With your permission, and where relevant, we may also review prior assessments, treatment records, drug testing records, licensure filings, and employer documentation.

The ASAM Criteria look at six areas: withdrawal risk, physical health, emotional and behavioral health, readiness to change, risk of returning to use, and the person’s recovery environment. These are used as a structured way of reasoning, not a checklist or a scoring formula, to build a clear picture of severity, risk, and what kind of help is needed. When it fits the picture, the report may include an opinion on the level of care. That is a clinical opinion at the time of the assessment; it is not an approval, an insurance decision, or an order to enter treatment.

The report keeps documented evidence, analysis, and conclusions clearly separate, which is what makes it usable in a formal review. Diagnoses are documented with severity and with the evidence they rest on. The report does not take sides, and it does not decide anything about your license or your job. Those decisions belong to your board or your employer; our part is the clinical picture they rely on.

You will recognize this problem from your own field. In Minnesota, many substance use assessments are done by clinicians who work for, or are paid by, the same treatment programs that will deliver the treatment being recommended. It is legal and often fine, but it is exactly the kind of conflict you are trained to spot and manage in your own practice, and it is reasonable to weigh it when the license at stake is yours.

Arlucent does not have that conflict. We provide no treatment, no therapy, no referrals to any program, and no ongoing care. We have nothing to gain by recommending a particular level of care, a particular monitoring intensity, or a particular conclusion about your situation. Our job ends when the written report is delivered, which is what lets it stand as an independent document with a board, an employer, or a monitoring program.

There are three levels, from a standard evaluation up to a full comprehensive one. Which one fits depends on how complex the situation is and what the report is for, and you do not have to work that out yourself. It is settled at intake. The three levels are laid out plainly on the How it works page.

For a second opinion or review, the deeper two levels are usually the right fit, since these cases tend to involve contested findings or more than one system at once.

See the three levels on How it works →

It starts with a short, confidential questionnaire. That tells us whether an independent evaluation fits your situation and, importantly, whether your authority requires a designated evaluator instead. If we are a fit, we confirm the details in writing, ask for any records we will need, and schedule the session. The evaluation is done by secure video, and the written report follows. If you have a board deadline, a hearing, or any other deadline, tell us at intake so we can plan around it.

The report goes to you. It is sent to a licensing board, an employer, a monitoring program, your attorney, or anyone else only with your written permission, and we document exactly what that permission covers. If you sought the evaluation on your own before a disclosure, it stays with you. If the evaluation is happening under an employer requirement or an existing release to a regulator, we confirm at intake exactly where the report will go, so there are no surprises.

Appointments are private-pay and confirmed once payment is received.

Your evaluation is done by Rafael Lewis, M.A., LADC, the founder of Arlucent Assessments and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Minnesota. He is a doctoral student in counseling psychology at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and the creator of the Arlucent Seventh Dimension™. He has held leadership roles in licensed substance use treatment programs, so he knows first-hand the standards, the paperwork, and the real-world pressures these evaluations have to meet.

More on his background is on the About page.

Whether an independent evaluation fits your situation starts with the short questionnaire. It is brief and confidential, and it is how we confirm the case is a fit, identify the right level, and check whether your authority requires a designated evaluator instead. Documentation, scheduling, and payment are confirmed in writing afterward.