Research in recent years has found that your zip code can have a bigger impact on your health than your genetic code. That theory was on display in a 2019 report that found the average Streeterville resident's life expectancy is 90, while a person in Englewood lives to be just 60 years old. Just a nine-mile stretch between Chicago neighborhoods accounts for a three-decade difference in life expectancy.
Social determinants of health, like transportation, education, clean air and water, healthy food options and discrimination can affect a wide range of health outcomes for people who live just miles apart. But with better data to help understand places and their populations, health care organizations can make better decisions around how to treat their patients.
That's where Metopio comes in. The Chicago startup has built a data analytics software platform for health care groups and other industries, allowing them to better understand the populations they serve with data that's easy to use and access. Metopio brings disparate datasets into one central platform, helping firms make decisions faster without needing a background in data science. Its software quickly turns queried data into charts, maps, tables or scatter plots, using both publicly available data alongside data provided by the client, CEO Will Snyder said.
The goal, Snyder said, is to help groups make decisions faster and with more accuracy, bringing the best data possible to the table.
"It's interesting how many people make decisions with either crappy data, very little data, or no data at all," he said. "Metopio is a ridiculously easy data tool for understanding populations and places."
Metopio, named after Greek words meta, meaning “beyond,” and topos, meaning “place,” currently has more than three dozen clients, most of which are health systems and other health care organizations that use the startup's data to go beyond their current understanding of a place and those who lives there. Its technology was used to create the Chicago Health Atlas, a health data tool led by the Chicago Department of Public Health and UIC to compare health-related data over time across Chicago communities.
The startup, which is led by Snyder and co-founders Angie Grover and Jonathan Giuffrida, recently closed a $1 million seed round of funding from Chicago investors like Sandalphon Capital, MATH Venture Partners and Chicago Early Growth Ventures.
Its technology has been particularly useful during the Covid-19 pandemic, Snyder said, as health systems look to make smarter decisions about vaccine rollouts and testing locations. One health system used Metopio's data to determine where to open new community testing sites. Rather than just launching testing centers in the most populated areas, it was able to search for specific areas where life expectancy is lowest. Metopio also showed the neighborhoods where people did and didn't have access to a car, which helped the organization know whether to open a drive-thru or walk-in clinic.
Metopio's data provides a clearer picture of a place and the people who live there, which helps health care systems make life saving decisions. But its data tools are also useful to other industries like real estate, Snyder said. Architects like Chicago's Studio Gang have used the startup to make smarter decisions around where to build their next project.
As the company grows, and more clients input new data and use the platform, Metopio will only become a stronger data tool for understanding populations, Snyder said.
"It's this growing data ecosystem," he said. "The more users we get, the more data they add, the smarter the system gets and the more opportunity we have to uncover new insights."
