All Valencian pharmacies now operate with the digital Health coupon

For the past six months, all pharmacies in the Valencian Community have been using the digital coupon system (Datamatrix), which was introduced by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Valencian Community’s three official colleges of pharmacists. The new computerised system in Castellón’s 299 pharmacies has now been in place for a year, having been deployed in September of last year. Meanwhile, it was introduced in Alicante’s 807 pharmacies in December 2024, and it has been active in Valencia since February of this year.

This is the Datamatrix system, which eliminates the traditional coupon seal, which the chemist had to cut from the drug packaging and seal on an information page to justify dispensing and invoicing. Currently, this process is carried out using a new digital code that provides for the unique electronic identification of each invoiced product. On World Pharmacists Day, the Ministry of Health wanted to emphasise the importance of implementing digital transformation in the drug dispensing and billing process, as it not only reduces costs and administrative burdens for professionals, but also improves traceability and patient safety.

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More practical when confronted with alarms

In fact, one of the primary benefits of the digital coupon is that it keeps you informed about the medication’s route at all times. This manner, if a medicine alert is received, you’ll know where the medication was dispensed, where the precise bottle is, and who purchased it. This information enables you to respond as soon as possible to an alarm.

It is important to recall that this is a national pioneering system that was implemented for the first time in the Valencian Community owing to the collaboration of the Official Colleges of Pharmacists of Castellón, Valencia, and Alicante, and it has been a watershed moment. Furthermore, it demonstrates the Ministry of Health’s commitment to its digital transformation agenda for the healthcare sector, notably the pharmaceutical sector.

Reduction of expenditures and administrative load

The new digitalised drug delivery system reduces costs while also decreasing bureaucracy and administrative workload for pharmacy professionals in the invoicing process and healthcare staff in the supervision process. The new system cuts 90% of the time spent on prescription invoicing, which is significant given that around 133 million prescriptions are issued annually.

Furthermore, the removal of the seal code precludes the Valencian Community from printing 54 million receipt sheets each year, which are used to stamp the coupon to justify dispensing and invoicing. It also reduces the amount of seal coupons used on pharmaceutical packaging by about 117.9 million per year, saving the industry time and money. This implies a €500,000 cost reduction for the Regional Ministry of Health, while the new digital system allows pharmacies to save at least €4.7 million each year.

Author: Derek Appleton