This year JHPOR organized their 5^th Scientific Conference. It was held on April 13th, 2018 and it was dedicated to the hot topics related to healthcare in Poland.

The Conference was opened by Professor Karina Jahnz-Różyk and after the opening lecture Marcin Czech from Ministry of Health shared an update on drug policy in Poland.

It was followed by a presentation of summary findings on drug policies in selected central European countries by Monika Szkultecka-Dębek and about the healthcare maps in Poland by Jakub Adamski.

There was an extensive discussion on rare and orphan diseases in Poland, including financing and access to treatment. The overview was presented by Professor Mieczysław Walczak. Michał Jachimowicz from Polish Pharmacoeconomic Society shared information about rare diseases financing.

The second session was dedicated to the following topics: European HTA agency project and the approach by the Polish HTA Agency (AOTMiT) presented by Joanna Lis and Dominik Dziurda; the risk sharing agreements based on outcomes by Iga Lipska, hospitals network by Artur Fałek and managed healthcare from NHF perspective by Andrzej Śliwczyński.

The information regarding NHF cooperation with the Central Statistical Office and OECD in relation to databases supplementation was presented by Melania Brzozowska.

There was also focus on specific disease areas and Professor Marek Rękas provided an overview of the planned systemic changes in ophthalmology. Przemysław Silicki summarized the information related to diabetes financing.

There was also discussion about biosimilar products lead by Gerald Waligóra and the conference ended with a session where the JHPOR Editor, Professor Karina Jahnz-Różyk shared a review of the most important and significant in terms of being referenced publications from JHPOR.