Guidelines and quality measures: do they improve outcomes of patients with community-acquired pneumonia?

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has a significant impact in terms of morbidity, mortality, and cost of care. Guidelines play an important role in the management of this disease, and evidence supporting the positive effects of guidelines on outcomes in patients with CAP is substantial. However, evidence supporting many of the CAP quality indicators is low, and pay-for-performance measures do not seem to influence clinically important outcomes. Future CAP quality indicators should incorporate evidence-based interventions.