Medical evidence suggests that it is safe and less costly to treat low-risk patients with pneumonia in the outpatient setting. We analyzed the risk factors for hospitalization of low-risk patients defined by comparing 1,044 outpatients and 845 inpatients from 32 hospital emergency departments. Hospitalization was justified for one-third of inpatients, while one-fifth of inpatients had no identifiable risk factors for hospitalization. These findings suggest that while a sizeable proportion of patients defined as low risk have an appropriate indication for hospitalization, an even larger proportion of low-risk patients could safely be treated in the outpatient setting.
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