Pneumonia Quality Measures
Average Length of Stay
According to the most recent national data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the average length of stay for pneumonia in the US was 5.7 days.
The average length of stay (measured in days) provides general information about the efficiency of care delivery, and is therefore an important quality indicator. However, some hospitals care for patients with a greater severity of illness and therefore may have a longer average length of stay.
In 2006, the average length of stay for pneumonia patients at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center was 4.21 days, which is better than the national ALOS for pneumonia in HCUP’s nationwide sample.