Bernard Waśko
Bernard Waśko is the Director of the National Institute of Public Health in Poland, a position he has held since 2023. With over 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector, he is an expert in health system performance, healthcare quality, and strategic development, having served in senior management roles in large public hospitals (1998–2011), and later as Medical Director at PwC Poland (2011–2019).
Throughout his career, Bernard has led numerous projects focused on the organisation, optimisation, restructuring and strategic advisory of healthcare systems in Poland and the Central and Eastern European region. He is the co-author and principal architect of the Healthcare Performance Index for Poland, first published in 2015 and updated annually through to 2019, offering a comprehensive evaluation of system efficiency and outcomes.
As Vice President for Medical Affairs at the National Health Fund (2019–2022), Bernard played a key role in introducing national regulations for key performance indicators (KPIs) in publicly funded healthcare services. He collaborated closely with the Ministry of Health in preparing the Act on Quality and Patient Safety, which was adopted in mid-2023. In the same year, he was appointed by the Ministry as Chair of the Task Team responsible for the implementation of executive regulations on quality indicators across the Polish healthcare system.
He is also an active member of the National Oncology Council, where he contributes to the implementation of the National Oncology Network and the development of a comprehensive set of performance indicators, both general and tumour-specific, aimed at improving cancer care outcomes.
At present, Bernard is leading the development of the Health Index for Poland, an interactive tool designed to assess disparities in health status and determinants, as well as to evaluate health system performance at both national and regional levels. The Index also incorporates patient experience and needs, offering a multidimensional perspective on public health.
