Pilot Project: Digital Access to Medication

Welcome to SAMHSA/CSAT's the Digital Access to Medication Web Site

Please note that the Digital Access to Medication (D-ATM) project and system described on this site will have closed down as of August 31, 2012.

D-ATMâ€™s sponsor, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was unable to continue funding the project, but is maintaining this site for informational purposes. Other than an update to the section on project status, most of the information on this Web site has not been changed.

The site will be of most interest to visitors who want to learn about D-ATM in particular, or more generally as a case study in how one Health Information Technology system was developed and implemented as a disaster preparedness tool for clinics serving patients for whom â€˜service continuityâ€™ is a life or death matter.

Though no longer in existence, D-ATM, a 10-year demonstration project, was important. For one, D-ATM provided proof of concept that this type of health IT system was possible. Also, unlike many health IT projects, D-ATM was a truly grassroots effort, from Day 1 benefitting from the input of a range of stakeholders, some of whom served on the project Steering Committee. And finally, the project certainly demonstrated the need for such a system, with over 4,000 patients enrolled. Unfortunately, despite coordinated efforts from all parties involved, the total number of clinics that voluntarily implemented D-ATM remained at 62. This small number of participating clinics was not adequate to support the goal of a national disaster preparedness system and justify continued funding.

More than words can adequately express, SAMHSA and the D-ATM Team thank those patients, the Administrators and front-line staff of the many opioid treatment programs who participated, the States who expressed interest and support, the software vendors who worked with us and so many clinics to make this at all possible, and our very active and intelligent Steering Committee members, most of whom served for the duration of the project.