OBJECTIVES: Inpatient treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is generally non-invasive and therefore the financial burden for hospitals is dependent from length-of-stay. A fast recovery of the patients shows the need of rapid acting antibiotic treatment, especially under the German DRG-reimbursement system. This study investigated costs and charges of patients with CAP from the hospitals’ perspective. The new gyrase inhibitor moxifloxacin was compared to standard antimicrobial therapy of the participating hospitals. METHODS: The observational study was conducted prospectively in a parallel group design. In 22 hospitals, 580 patients were enrolled, 261 patients in the moxifloxacin-(M-)cohort and 319 patients in the standard-(S-)cohort of other antibiotics. The economic perspective of a German hospital was applied for the cost measurement. After conduct of the study, the patient data were grouped into the relevant German DRG and the course of treatment, costs and reimbursement of both cohorts were analysed. RESULTS: The outcome of the patients at the beginning of treatment was comparable in both cohorts. The length-of-stay of the patients was significantly shorter in the moxifloxacin cohort for the more severe DRGs E62A (M-cohort 10.1 days, N=113; S-cohort 12.2 days, N=164; p=0.004) and E62B (M-cohort 9.7 days, N=112; S-cohort 10.7 days, N=146; p=0.041). In the third DRG E62C no differences were found (M-cohort 10.2 days, N=36; S-cohort 9.4 days, N=9; p=0.306). Net profit per case for the hospitals in the DRG E62A was 1931€ and 1683€ for the cohorts M and S respectively (E62B: M 1365€, S 1296€; E62C: M 802€, S 791€). CONCLUSIONS: For the treatment of hospitalised CAP the study demonstrated the economical relevance of fast recovery secondary to efficacious drug therapy. Under current reimbursement modalities the treatment with moxifloxacin is more profitable from the hospitals’ perspective due to a shortened length of stay of the patients.