The second EUROPLAN National Conference took place on 25 May 2018 in Bratislava.
The Slovak Alliance for Rare Diseases, SAZCH, was the organiser.
The conference gathered healthcare professionals, representatives of public institutions and payers, as well as patient representatives. The discussion focused on three major themes:
- Centres of Expertise for Rare Diseases in the Slovak Republic and their integration into the current European Reference Networks (ERNs)
As of May 2018, the national list of Centres of Expertise on rare diseases includes 59 units. Out of them, 17 are at a higher level and could have the capacity to join an ERN. The Ministry of Health will be organising the involvement of Centres of Expertise into ERNs when the next call from the European Commission will be launched in Autumn 2018.
- Registries for rare diseases
A national registry for rare diseases was established in 2014, as one of the actions delineated in the National Action Plan for rare diseases. However, the development of this national registry has slowly progressed. This project needs to be further supported in conjunction with the National Health Information Centre.
- Reimbursement and access to treatments
A new reimbursement policy came into force at the beginning of 2018, aiming to provide a better support to innovative treatments and access to therapy. The issue around the real cost of an innovative product can only be solved by involving all relevant stakeholders.
Read the summary of the discussions and proposed recommendations from the EUROPLAN conference’s participants: here
State of the Art Report on Rare Diseases / Slovak Republic: here