The cost of treating patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with significant morbidity, mortality and utilization of health care resources. While the reported incidence of pneumonia has been relatively stable over time, the hospital discharge rate for pneumonia rose between 1984 and 1995. The length of stay, however, has continued to fall. There is considerable variation in how CAP is managed across the United States as reflected in variations in hospital admission rates, hospital lengths of stay and the costs of treating a case (both inpatient and outpatient). In 1994 the estimated cost of an episode of care was $264 for outpatients and $7500 for inpatients (including hospital and physician care and follow-up care). The total costs associated with treating CAP were about $10 billion in that year. Strategies for decreasing the cost of treating CAP include identifying low risk patients who can safely be treated as outpatients, decreasing lengths of hospital stay, decreasing the use of emergency departments as sites for initial evaluation, and promoting the use of lower cost antibiotic therapy.