2025 was a pivotal year for the healthcare industry, and many of its events directly affected hiring. From the rapid integration of AI to sweeping regulatory changes, 2025 saw several notable trends affecting healthcare hiring organizations and job seekers alike.
These shifts weren’t fleeting. Many of 2025’s top trends have major implications for healthcare staffing well into the new year and beyond. Events of last year have already started reshaping workforce strategies and talent demand in healthcare.
AI: all hype, or actually helpful?
It seemed like there was no escaping the conversations surrounding AI in 2025. For the general public, a lot of the focus was on generative AI and its ability to produce increasingly realistic images, videos, and other content. While this type of AI use is often more style than substance, AI also emerged with very real applications for healthcare staffing and other healthcare activities.
For recruiters, AI’s ability to automate tasks such as screening resumes, sourcing candidates, and scheduling interviews has significantly streamlined their work and reduced time to hire. This is especially common in initial outreach and follow-ups to request information or schedule meetings. Many facilities also use AI to help generate job descriptions.
In some cases, staffing agencies have even used AI to conduct initial interviews, though this should be approached with caution. Candidates want to feel valued, and turning interviews over to AI can send the wrong message. While AI can help find the right candidates for an opening, the human element still matters in 2026. This doesn’t just apply to the interview process. Human recruiters have the industry knowledge and expertise to serve as career guides in ways AI simply can’t replicate.
It’s also worth noting that AI recruitment tools are helping deliver a better experience for job seekers during their job search. Features with AI enhancements include advanced job matching, self-service job search tools, and helping candidates find opportunities that better match their preferences. Ideally, improving the back-end administrative side with self-service technology for employers and job seekers can enhance the entire hiring experience for everyone involved.
Joint Commission changes emphasize nurse staffing
Another major news item from 2025 was the Joint Commission implementing a wide overhaul of its healthcare standards in a change known as Accreditation 360: The New Standard. Among other changes that were made to accreditation and certification standards, the Joint Commission notably added a staffing component to its Hospital National Performance Goals.
The goal: “The hospital is staffed to meet the needs of the patients it serves, and staff are competent to provide safe, quality care.” This was supported by additional guidelines for hospital facilities, which included hospital leadership making staffing a priority across each of their departments (both in terms of quality and quantity), as well as assigning a nurse executive to direct and oversee nurse staffing.
Nurse staffing is no longer something that can be overlooked, as hospitals must now provide documentation that shows how they are ensuring each department is properly staffed if they wish to achieve and maintain accreditation.
For 2026, this means that healthcare leaders need to put added emphasis on meeting proper staffing ratios. For many facilities and health systems, this likely means making greater use of per diem staffing to ensure proper coverage and expertise are available for times of peak demand, as well as helping with specialized procedures and covering employee absences. This should also create more opportunities for nurses and other candidates who are looking for extra flexibility in their working conditions.
Stabilization and expansion in flexible roles
In 2025, Staffing Industry Analysts reported on slight declines in per diem and allied health roles, while international nurses and locum tenens roles saw moderate growth. For 2026, however, SIA predicted growth in all four sectors, with locum tenens roles seeing the highest growth.
Primary care facilities, emergency rooms, and surgery saw the biggest demand in 2025 for locum tenens roles, while per diem nursing is expected to grow beyond current demand with more nurses preferring to work at locations closer to home.
Notably, these trends are contributing to a continuing decline in the travel nurse market, though travel nursing remains the largest area for healthcare staffing overall. Hospitals, in particular, continue to need travel nurses, especially in rural and underserved areas. AI-enabled recruiting and solutions to make travel nursing more attractive to job seekers will become increasingly important for these facilities to maintain compliance with the updated Joint Commission standards.
With growth for these more flexible roles expected in 2026, recruiters and healthcare systems must consider how to better incorporate these positions within their organization.
Looking ahead to 2026
The trends and changes that affected healthcare staffing in 2025 will likely continue to do so in 2026. By understanding the opportunities and challenges that come along with these and other trends, healthcare job seekers, staffing agencies and health systems can set themselves up for a better hiring and staffing experience.
Hiring and growing with the right technology tools in place can help every stakeholder in the hiring process. For 2026, those who embrace relevant and trustworthy tech will put themselves in the best position to get the results they’re looking for.
