Celebrating developmental milestones is deeply ingrained in our culture – witness the number of Facebook postings about a baby’s first steps and first words. We would like to invite you to join in our celebration of this journal’s most recent milestone: our 500th paper submission. Since the launch of Healthcare Policy/Politiques de Santé, we have received contributions on a very broad range of topics, from workforce planning, training and regulation to quality of care, sustainable funding and resource allocation, and governance and accountability. The best submissions appear in the journal’s pages and are shared far and wide. Last year’s best-read paper logged almost 2,500 views, with many more readers learning of key findings through the Longwoods eLetter, which currently has more than 11,000 opt-in subscribers.