Beginning in January 2026, the Joint Commission’s new National Performance Goals® (NPGs) will introduce a sharper focus on the structure and competency required to deliver safe, high-quality care. Goal 12 places a clear expectation on hospitals: you must be able to show that you have the right people with the right qualifications in the right roles at the right time.
For workforce leaders, this means staffing can no longer be viewed only as a local operational decision. It must now be an organizational priority with documented leadership, structure, and accountability.
Here, we review the changes to the NPGs, the environment that surrounds them, and the implications for hospitals preparing for accreditation in the year ahead.
Staffing is now a National Performance Goal
Goal 12 states: “The hospital is staffed to meet the needs of the patients it serves, and staff are competent to provide safe, quality care.”
Two parts of this new goal carry important implications for hospital leadership:
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Nurse executives must have a meaningful leadership role. Hospitals must show that a licensed nurse executive participates in senior decision-making. This includes influencing staffing policies, budgets, workforce structure, and the overall care model.
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Hospitals must maintain adequate staffing across registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and other clinical roles. Although no numeric ratios appear in the standard, hospitals must create staffing plans that reflect patient need, acuity, and departmental demands. These plans must be monitored, updated, and defensible.
Industry groups, including the American Nurses Association, view this as a significant step toward more consistent staffing oversight.
A complex environment: Financial pressure and workforce strain
Hospitals are already navigating intense financial and workforce pressure. Across the United States, hospitals face strong demand but limited flexibility to expand the workforce that supports patient care. This environment is defined by:
- Rising tension between employers and nursing unions
- High costs of temporary staffing
- Burnout fueled by gaps in support roles such as certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and LPNs
- Added federal requirements that increase administrative pressure
The Joint Commission’s new goals are designed to help hospitals strengthen their approach to compliance while navigating these competing demands.
What this means for hospital leaders
The new expectations will influence several areas of hospital operations and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) monitoring:
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Competency needs to be validated and visible. Hospitals must show that every professional is trained, licensed, and competent for their assigned work. This can become difficult when turnover increases or when roles change quickly.
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Staffing decisions must be documented and defensible. Accreditation teams will expect to see staffing plans, monitoring processes, variance explanations, and the direct involvement of the nurse executive.
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Workforce disruption becomes more costly. Any lapse in licensure, certification, or role-specific credentials creates risk. Even short delays can impact staffing compliance or quality of care.
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Balanced staffing across RNs, LPNs, and CNAs is essential. Hospitals that adjust RN staffing without considering support roles may unintentionally increase burden on nurses and reduce overall efficiency.
Forward-looking organizations should begin asking:
- How do we document the staffing plans that align to Goal 12?
- Do we have real-time visibility into licensure, credentials, and competency?
- How are we supporting the nurse executive’s leadership role?
These questions highlight the growing need for reliable workforce intelligence and clearer operational processes.
Where Propelus® supports this work
Propelus helps hospitals manage growing workforce demands with clarity and confidence. Through our Propelus EverCheck® solution, we support hospitals that need to track credentials, verify compliance, and reduce the administrative burden on HR, nursing, and clinical operations teams.
Propelus solutions help hospitals improve safety and outcomes by enabling them to:
- Maintain visibility into licensure and credentials through centralized, primary source verified data.
- Reduce the time required to track workforce compliance management across RNs, LPNs, CNAs, and other clinical roles.
- Support nurse executives with accurate workforce data.
- Minimize the operational impact of licensure or certification lapses.
- Strengthen readiness for Joint Commission surveys and regulatory reviews.
Hospitals that adopt modern workforce tools position themselves to respond to regulatory change with greater confidence.
Moving healthcare forward
The Joint Commission’s new staffing goals represent a meaningful shift in how hospitals must think about workforce management. The requirements may continue to evolve, but the core message is clear: Staffing must be intentional, documented, and supported by data.
Hospitals that invest in visibility and competency management today will be better prepared for the complexity ahead. Propelus is ready to support this progress. Contact us to get started.