As previously announced, and in reference to the findings of the General Assembly of the Polish Society of Pharmacoeconomics and interest from other academic bodies the first issue of the international scientific journal "Journal of Health Policy & Outcomes Research (JHPOR)" is presented. in this issue you can see the problems of Health Policy in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Slovakia. Most of the works of foreign authors is thematically linked to  the lectures presented at the Ninth Conference of the PTFE (ISPOR Poland Chapter). On the pages of this issue we begin a discussion of the assumptions and the various aspects of a new reimbursement law in Poland introduced in May 2011. This hot topic will be discussed many times in subsequent editions of the journal. Several articles are devoted to analyzing the cost effectiveness of drugs, and are important to Polish studies. Since the beginning of a letter to each issue, the article called "PTFE-Corner " is entered which will monitor and record the activity of members of PTFE - individual activities, activities of the sections, members' participation in conferences and meetings.

We encourage all potential contributors to publish in the fields of  pharmacoeconomics, outcomes research and health policy.

Best regards,
Karina Jahnz- Różyk & Joanna Lis