Digital Access Coordinator Program Playbook

Digital health applications, from tele-mental health services to remote patient monitoring to health portals, have the promise of improving people’s access to health care. But in order to ensure that patients can benefit from these advances in technology, they need robust, affordable internet connections, devices, and the skills to use these technologies safely.

The Digital Access Coordinator (DAC) Program Playbook is a tool for clinicians, practice staff, and hospital leaders who are interested in addressing digital literacy gaps in their patient populations through the implementation of a digital navigator program. 

In this playbook, the authors describe how the Digital Access Coordinator (DAC) Program works and how you can implement the program at your health care organization. The DAC Program was established at Mass General Brigham (MGB), a large integrated health care system in New England. The organization consists of 1.25 million primary care patients and 1,211 primary care clinicians. Since its creation, the DAC Program has enrolled more than 10,000 patients in the patient portal across the organization.

If your practice is just getting started with a DAC program, use this playbook to:

• Identify gaps in digital access in your practice.
• Involve multidisciplinary stakeholders in the development of a digital navigator program.
• Develop workflows for implementing a digital navigator program. 
• Promote the patient portal as a key digital tool for all patients.
• Evaluate the impact of a digital navigator program.