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How D-ATM Works

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How D-ATM Works
How D-ATM Is Implemented
How D-ATM Works in the Clinic
How D-ATM Benefits Patients and Clinics

How D-ATM Works

Digital Access to Medication (D-ATM) acts as a central repository for limited data on opioid addiction treatment provided by Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs). Patients voluntarily consent to enroll in D-ATM (see below for details on using D-ATM), which generates a numeric identifier known as the D-ATM ID. This D-ATM ID is entered in the clinical management and dispensing system used by the clinic, if it is a D-ATM ready system (see the section on Becoming D-ATM Ready). The dispensing system then starts sending limited data on the medication order and dosing to D-ATM only for the patients enrolled in D-ATM.

In any situation in which the patient cannot receive medication at his/her regular clinic, the enrolled patient can go to another participating D-ATM clinic (the guest clinic) to receive medication dosing. The guest clinic can access patient information from D-ATM to verify accurate dosing. The home clinic is notified by D-ATM when any of that home clinic’s patient records are accessed by any other clinic.

How D-ATM Is Implemented

Patient participation in D-ATM is voluntary and is not required for a patient to continue treatment at the home clinic, or to receive treatment from another clinic in the event of a disaster, although the process may be easier for those enrolled in D-ATM.

For an opioid treatment program (OTP), the steps involved in using D-ATM consist of the following:

An OTP voluntarily decides to implement D-ATM.
The OTP receives the D-AM hardware, software, and all supporting materials for installation and training at no cost.
The OTP completes the installation of D-ATM on one computer that has an Internet connection.
The OTP staff educates patients about D-ATM.
Patients voluntarily consent to enroll in D-ATM.
A finger of the patient is scanned.
The system captures data points from the finger scan, called minutiae.
The system quickly analyzes the minutiae using a proprietary algorithm.
The system generates a unique patient identifier number known as the D-ATM ID that will allow later access to that patient's medicine order and dosing records.
This ID is entered in the D-ATM ready clinical management and dispensing system.
D-ATM starts receiving dosing data from the D-ATM ready system.

This is the enrollment process. Later, if a patient needs to seek treatment at a "guest" OTP, he or she will be asked to scan his or her finger again.

Patient data can only be accessed with the patient's approval and participation.

How D-ATM Works in the Clinic

D-ATM has been designed to place minimum burden on opioid treatment program (OTP) staff. D-ATM integrates several medical recordkeeping systems, also called clinical software systems, that are already being used by many opioid treatment programs (OTPs).

Clinics with D-ATM Ready Systems

For OTP staff currently using D-ATM ready clinical management and dispensing systems,
there will be almost no additional information gathering or data entry; D-ATM has been developed to work seamlessly with the clinic’s existing medical record system. (See Becoming D-ATM Ready).

For these clinics, the most time-consuming activity will be the patient's initial enrollment. This will generally take about 1 to 2 minutes per patient. "Guest" visits that occur during a disaster or other service disruption will involve little more than taking a finger scan, retrieving the patient's medicine order and recent dosing history, and dispensing the appropriate dosing.

D-ATM Stand-Alone Systems

For OTPs that do not have a D-ATM ready system, there is an option to use the stand-alone version. This simply means that if a clinic voluntarily decides to implement this version the staff will need to enter the dosing data directly into D-ATM.

How Patients and Clinics Benefit

For an opioid treatment program (OTP), D-ATM is an easy way to ensure the well-being of patients as D-ATM allows patients to safely and securely receive their dosing when their home clinic for any reason is unable to operate and ensures that there will be a record of the service provided.

For a guest OTP, if a patient needs to find treatment at a program other than the home OTP, D-ATM will enable staff at the guest OTP to verify that the individual is a current patient in approved medical treatment for opioid addiction. D-ATM will then automatically access the patient's necessary medicine and dosage information.

A guest program accessing D-ATM will be able to:

Establish when the patient is due for medication.
Determine which medication dose is due.
Automatically notify the home clinic that treatment has been administered to one of their patients; to ensure privacy, OTPs receive an email alerting them to “check their queue” to find out about any D-ATM events involving one of their patients. No patient names are mentioned.

These benefits are packaged in an easy-to-use, automated fashion relying on no more than a quick finger scan.