Signify Health expanded its in-home Diagnostic and Preventive Services offering for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plan members.

The newest offering is a spirometry test to detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which Signify began offering in select geographies in 2022, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Signify added that the offering supports the early detection, diagnosis, and management of some of the leading causes of mortality among Medicare members, including COPD, peripheral arterial disease, colorectal cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and low bone density. Read more here.

Spirometry and Race

In an essay published online Friday, a group of researchers implored medical professionals to stop using race-based spirometry.

Rather than accounting for inherent differences in lung function, “adjusting” for race instead normalizes poor lung health, prevents diagnosis and perpetuates health disparities and, experts say, the environmental factors that contribute to them.

“We’ve decided in the United States that it’s ‘normal’ for Black people to have lower lung function than white people,” said Dr. Ravi Kalhan, deputy division chief of pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University. “Race-specific equations result in us not diagnosing lung disease in Black people – despite quite high prevalence.” Read more here.