Purpose Community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a serious illness and hospitalization for this illness is expensive. There is much the nurse practitioner (NP) can do to prevent and manage this illness. Data sources Review of current literature, medical/nursing references, and data from the healthcare utilization project (HCUP). Conclusions The use of health promotion, risk stratification, and current evidence‐based treatment guidelines can help to decrease hospitalization rates for CAP for adults. Implications for practice NPs are experts at health promotion and evidence‐based practice. Adhering to these practices and using risk stratification, NPs can help to further decrease hospitalization rates for CAP lowering healthcare costs related to this serious illness.