What have we learned about how to measure quality of care for patients with community-acquired pneumonia?

The most commonly used measures of quality of care for hospitalized pneumonia patients are process measures as opposed to outcome measures.For a process measure to be useful in assessing quality of care, it must be linked to a desired outcome. For patients hospitalized with pneumonia, the obtaining of blood cultures, the timely use of appropriate antibiotics, and the delivery of the influenza and pneumococcal vaccines are the process measures most widely used for assessing quality of care in relation to clinical outcomes. The admission decision and the length of time that intravenous antibiotics are used are process measurements that directly affect financial outcomes.