Technology Spain , Madrid, Friday, April 06 of 2018, 08:31

New Pan-European electronic invoicing in the healthcare sector

Govein project

UC3M/DICYT A European group of scientists, technologists and providers of e-invoicing services, in which Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) researchers participate, have developed a new electronic invoicing system among different European countries for the public and private healthcare sector that automates, enhances and expedites the relation with public and private suppliers from different European countries.

 

This system has been developed within the framework of Govein, a European research project that has drawn together all the main actors related to cross-border e-invoicing in the public health sector, in accordance with European Union Directive 2014/55. This regulation will require EU Member State central and territorial administrations to accept electronic invoicing in public contracts at the end of 2019.

 

There are numerous applications for the project results, but the main one is integration of the electronic invoicing process in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for healthcare institutions in order to increase their security and reduce the time to close e-procurement processes. That is, the aim is for electronic invoicing and procurement of suppliers, work and services to be faster and more secure for the different agents involved in the area of European healthcare.

 

Within the project’s framework, this team of researchers have been able to improve the interoperability of electronic invoicing through a multi-syntax solution capable of handling invoicing according to multiple standards. “This system takes into account the different needs of each participant with their own ERP systems and the specifications set out in the European regulation to achieve electronic documents that are semantically interoperable,” explained one of the members of the research team, professor Jesus Carretero, from the UC3M ARCOS group.

 

Govein is a research project funded by the infrastructure program, Connecting Europe Facility (GA INEA/CEF/ICT/A2015/112967) that includes 19 European partners (both, clients and suppliers) from different countries, of which nine are end users. This project concluded last November and has presented its pilot project, which will also be extended to other areas of activity. Future lines of work include amplification of hospital networks which use e- invoicing in Europe and carry out market analysis and business planning to guarantee the sustainability of the action.