To compare the length of stay and charges for patients with pneumonia admitted in 1995 to the teaching and nonteaching services of a Northeastern teaching hospital, we reviewed the charts of 237 patients. Patients cared for by hospital-based generalists working with housestaff (teaching service) were discharged more quickly and with lower or equivalent charges than patients cared for by community-based attending physicians working either with housestaff (private teaching service) or alone (nonteaching service). Academic teaching services staffed by general medicine faculty may provide efficient inpatient pneumonia care.