BOSTON – State officials plan to launch a voluntary program by the end of the year to support health care workers recovering from substance use disorder and other mental health conditions.

The forthcoming Unified Recovery and Monitoring Program (URAMP), established under a 2022 mental health care access law, is intended to both ensure patient safety and help licensed health care professionals gradually transition back into delivering care.

Jonathan Dillon, policy director for the Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Health Professions Licensure, gave a program update to the Board of Allied Health Professions Thursday as part of an ongoing effort to seek feedback from the state’s 21 licensing boards.

“The service is focused on public protection. It’s designed as a monitoring program that gives us an overview of the way in which a licensee is accessing the support they need to get well and manage a substance use disorder or mental health condition while maintaining safe practice,” Dillon said.

Officials previously said URAMP was expected to launch “at some point” this summer, according to the program’s webpage. Dillon said officials are still working to train staff, finalize program guidance for licensing boards, build a case management platform and create an outreach plan for stakeholders, among other tasks.

Health care workers who do not feel in control of their substance use disorder or mental health condition can “self-refer” themselves into URAMP to seek support, Dillon said. But the majority of program referrals are expected to come from licensing boards, as officials start investigating whether disciplinary action is needed in the aftermath of an “adverse incident,” he said.

Unlike disciplinary proceedings, Dillon emphasized that URAMP will operate as a confidential program. Disciplinary actions against health care workers will be dismissed if they are admitted into URAMP and if officials determine an incident was directly linked to their substance use disorder or mental health condition, according to Dillon.

URAMP will build off two similar recovery programs that are already in place for the Board of Registration in Nursing and the Board of Registration in Pharmacy. Those programs will transition into URAMP, which will serve all 21 licensing boards.

“We are aware that because of this expansion to all of our boards and the expansion in scope, over the opening three years, we expect our caseloads, our alternative to discipline caseloads, to at least double,” Dillon said. “We’re building the structure of the team to cater for that.”

Health care workers who are admitted to URAMP, following a mental health evaluation that confirms their condition, will be barred from practicing for six months, said Edmund Taglieri, who supervises the Pharmacy Substance Use Disorder Program. URAMP is meant to be a three-year program for participants, though he said it can be longer depending on their recovery needs, he said.

Participants will be involved in intensive recovery efforts, including initially attending four peer support group meetings each week and bimonthly mental health counseling, Taglieri said. They’ll also be subject to random urine screenings.

As they successfully navigate the program, health care workers will gradually ease back into their jobs. But they’ll be subject to some restrictions, including being supervised in the workplace, working restricted hours and shifts, and not regaining the ability to order federally-controlled substances until two years into the program, Taglieri said.

As officials continue to develop the program, Taglieri asked the Board of Allied Health Professions – which includes occupational therapists, physical therapists and athletic trainers – to consider “anything unique” about licensees that should be monitored as they return to work.

“We don’t need that today – you can give it to us anytime over the next few months, and it isn’t a now-or-never-type item,” Taglieri said. “It’s something you can adjust as we move forward during the program.”

Officials say they are prepared for the possibility of URAMP participants relapsing.

“At no stage within the process of recovery is, you get one chance and that’s it,” Dillon said. “We will support participants through the program, recognize that sometimes there can be ups and downs in the process of recovery. There’ll be some lenience and acceptance, where we have evidence of engagement with the program, we will always try within the extent that it’s reasonable to do so to support people with their recovery.”