Fifty years ago, a heart attack was often a terminal diagnosis, with only a 10% survival rate. Today, thanks to medical advancements, that same patient is six times more likely to survive and live for at least 10 years longer. But while care delivery has dramatically improved, so has the complexity of the healthcare environment.

Even with the advancements, medical errors remain a persistent challenge. One study reported that approximately 400,000 hospitalized patients experience some preventable harm each year, while another estimated that over 200,000 patient deaths annually were due to preventable medical errors. Why? Because of human factors and the complexity of managing multiple variables in high stress, fast paced environments. For example, on a typical shift, a nurse manages 4 to 8 patients and averages 2.6 visits per patient every single hour. Doctors making rounds see 10 to 20 patients a day.

In this high-stress, fast-paced environment, errors are not a failure of character, but a byproduct of complexity. This is the purpose of the National Performance Goals (NPGs) and the new Accreditation 360 framework. They act as a North Star, providing a simplified, focused guide to treatment when clinicians are focused on the patient in front of them.

What Is Accreditation 360?

In 2026, the Joint Commission launched Accreditation 360, a streamlined, data-driven approach to hospital accreditation. By removing hundreds of redundant requirements and focusing more on National Performance Goals, it will reduce the burden on providers while intensifying the focus on patient safety outcomes.

What Are The National Performance Goals?

Similar to the National Patient Safety Goals, the National Performance Goals (NPGs) are geared to provide healthcare organizations with a focused framework to improve patient safety, care quality, and outcomes by tackling high-priority, measurable areas beyond basic regulations.

Among the many changes, for the first time the NPGs include minimum nurse staffing requirements. National nursing groups including the American Nurses Association argue that inadequate nurse staffing has long contributed to patient safety risks. Communication is a key element of patient safety, something that effective labeling can further enhance.

1. Right Patient, Right Care: Enhancing Identification and Handoffs

The Standard - Organizations must have a consistent process to correctly identify patients when providing care, treatment and services and ensure seamless information exchange during handoffs.

The Challenge - Handoffs occur frequently and are associated with up to 80% of medical errors. Without clear identification, the risk of duplicated tests or conflicting treatments skydives.

The UAL Solution - Admissions Labels and ID Wristbands

Admission labels and ID wristbands are the foundation of patient safety. They provide positive identification and communicate critical alerts, such as allergies, fall risks, DNR and more, from admission through discharge.

Scenario - The Patient Journey

Imagine a patient transported to the ER, then to a medical floor, then to surgery, then to the ICU, and finally back to a medical floor for discharge. In just a few days, that patient has been cared for by multiple teams across five different sections of the hospital. Chart and communication labels complement EHR documentation, ensuring that vital information travels with the patient physically, closing the information gaps during these high-risk handoffs.

2. Culture of Safety: Guiding Appropriate Care

The Standard - Improving safety culture to reduce hospital-acquired conditions, falls, and medication errors. 

The Challenge - AHRQ research shows that a strong safety culture significantly improves outcomes, yet maintaining that culture requires constant, clear communication among rotating staff.

The UAL Solution - UAL Communication Labels

Communication labels serve as silent "safety partners" for your clinical team:

  • Fall Precaution Labels - Immediate visual cues to trigger safety protocols.
  • Pharmacy Auxiliary Labels - High-visibility alerts for specific medication handling instructions.
  • Anesthesia Labels - Standardized drug identification to prevent mix-ups in high stress surgical environments.

3. Emergency Readiness: Maintaining Continuity During Downtime

The Standard - Hospitals must remain resilient and maintain care continuity during emergencies and disasters.

The Challenge - When digital systems go down, the burden on providers can reach a breaking point. Without a manual backup, essential treatments slow down and medical errors increase.

The UAL Solution - Hospital Downtime Kits

UAL Downtime Kits keep your facility operational when technology fails, providing tools that enable standard workflows:

  • ID Wristbands & Admission Labels - For manual patient tracking.
  • Communication Labels - Enable caregiver communication in lieu of EHR systems
  • Prescription Pads - When additional medications are required for treatment
  • Specimen & Lab Labels - To ensure tests are never mislabeled during a system outage.
  • Drug Names & Tapes - Vital for maintaining medication safety.

4. Preventing and Controlling Infection - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

The Standard - Implementing evidence-based practices, specifically hand hygiene, to prevent avoidable infections.

The Challenge - Despite decades of guidelines, hand hygiene compliance remains an ongoing challenge hovering between 40% - 60%. IPC remains one the most frequent Joint Commission citations.

The UAL Solution - Hand Hygiene, PPE and Precaution Labels

Hand hygiene remains the simplest approach to preventing infection spread. Increased awareness can impact compliance. 

  • Infection Control Signs & Labels: Placed in high-traffic areas, these visual prompts inform and guide staff, patients, and visitors to take appropriate precautions.
  • Step-by-Step Reminders: Use standardized labels at point-of-use (sinks, sanitizing stations) to reinforce protocol.

5. Pain Management - Ensuring Safe Opioid Use

The Standard - Utilizing multimodal pain management and monitoring patients at high risk for opioid-related harm.

The Challenge - With increasing regulation and the need for safe prescribing practices, clinical staff must remain vigilant when managing opioids.

The UAL Solution - Opioid Warning Labels

Clearly identify high-risk medications to ensure they are handled with the necessary level of scrutiny.

  • Which Labels Here? - Help pharmacy and nursing staff physically separate opioids from standard medications to prevent selection errors.

6. Safe Informed Care - Engaging the Patient

The Standard - Ensuring patients are informed, active participants in their care to improve adherence and outcomes.

The Challenge - Miscommunication leads to reduced treatment adherence. If a patient doesn't understand their medication instructions after discharge, the risk of readmission increases.

The UAL Solution - Medication Instruction Labels

Medication instruction labels provide clear, concise language and bold colors to communicate dosing and timing. These labels empower patients to manage their care accurately outside the hospital walls.

7. Creating a Secure and Safe Physical Environment

The Standard - Implementing tailored fall risk reduction strategies.

The Challenge - Up to 1 million patients fall in US hospitals each year. 30% of those falls result in injury.

The UAL Solution: - Fall Risk Alert Labels

High-visibility fall risk alerts labels applied on charts, wristbands, bed frames and room doors inform staff members of which patients require extra assistance.

8. Effectively Manage Medications

The Standard - Label all medications, containers (syringes, cups, basins), and solutions on and off the sterile field. Even if a syringe is filled in the sterile area but kept on a separate table, or if a medication is prepared in the pharmacy and brought to the room, it must be labeled.

The Challenge - Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) affect nearly 5% of hospitalized patients. Unlabeled or conventionally labeled containers (like syringes or basins) are common culprits in preventable errors.

The UAL Solution: Medication Labels

Medication labels guard against confusion and misidentification. They supplement printed information included with prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.

  • Anesthesia & Drug Labels - Simplify the medication labeling process and serve as a visual warning for LASA drug types. Plus, printed medication names eliminate errors resulting from illegible handwriting.
  • Sterile Drug Labels - Document medication details and expiration information, supporting safe and compliant anesthesia and surgical workflows.
  • IV & Line Line and Tubing Labels - Help prevent medication line mix ups, organize multiple drips, highlight medications added to the IV, ensure IV site care, highlight when an IV change is due and more.

Simplify Your Compliance with UAL

Accreditation 360 and the National Performance Goals are designed to streamline processes and improve patient outcomes. United Ad Label’s high-quality, compliant labeling solutions help support that mission with products designed to reduce errors without adding to the administrative burden of your clinical staff.

Is your operation ready for the transition to Accreditation 360? Browse our catalog to ensure your team has the National Performance Goal tools they need for continuous compliance.