Apr 08, 2019
The Evolution of Parametric Insurance
As excerpted from the article ... Epidemic and Pandemic Protection In 2018, Marsh collaborated with Munich Re and epidemic risk modeling firm Metabiota to create PathogenRX, a parametric insurance product designed to protect against the economic impact of infectious disease outbreaks. The product was designed for industries “that depend on people to show up,” like hotels and sporting events, said Christian Ryan, U.S. hospitality, sports and entertainment leader at Marsh. If public anxiety over an outbreak of Zika or Ebola keeps people away, those businesses can fail, and often do so quickly. The product uses a pathogen sentiment index developed by Metabiota that gauges public fear and behavioral change in the wake of an epidemic outbreak. According to Metabiota CEO Bill Rossi, the index was made possible by advances in disease tracking and reporting, software machine learning and artificial intelligence. Alerts by health authorities and fatality counts can also be used to measure the size of an outbreak. “With PathogenRX, we are pushing the boundaries of insurability,” said Gunther Kraut, head of epidemic risk solutions at Munich Re. “On this basis, risk layering within the policy structures is possible, which helps to achieve attractive risk premiums. The economic loss resulting from the epidemic event, however, is typically indemnified.” In this sense, it is actually a hybrid parametric insurance solution. To read the full article, click here.
Apr 03, 2019
Metabiota Insurance Advisory Board Member Discusses how "2019 is the year of alignment"
This is a transformative time for the insurance industry as it approaches the next phase of innovation to meet the evolving needs of the market. To help corporate risk managers and decision makers better understand the best ways to stay ahead of these changes, a collection of industry experts and advisory board members to Metabiota, the provider of epidemic risk modeling, is sharing top insights for 2019 and how companies can prepare and capitalize on the biggest opportunities. In the first of three guest posts, Gretchen Hayes, Metabiota advisory board member and venture partner at Sandbox Industries is digging into why she believes 2019 is the year of alignment… Recently the keynote speaker at a large insurance industry event challenged the audience to define the insurance business. He pointed out that had Kodak seen itself not in the camera business, but in the “preserving memories” business, its business model might have evolved long before the slow march to bankruptcy. As insurance professionals, many tend to label it as “the business of risk” or “loss prevention,” when, more broadly, we are actually in the “giving piece of mind” business. For risk managers of large companies, that mission typically means giving peace of mind to shareholders, employees and the Board of Directors, and can translate into a motto of “minimizing maximum regret!” To read more, click here.
Apr 01, 2019
International Travel and Insurance Journal publishes new Metabiota blog "Zika’s Impact on Tourism"
Mark Gallivan, Lead Data Scientist at Metabiota, explores how analysis of social media can help to calculate the economic burden of disease outbreaks such as Zika Babymoon. NOUN A relaxing or romantic holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born. - Oxford English Dictionary Zika, microcephaly, and Latin America Expectant parents ask themselves many questions when deciding upon a babymoon locale. Should I go somewhere with a beach? How expensive are the hotels? And now, thanks to the Zika virus, does this location put my baby at risk for microcephaly? Evidence is now overwhelming, but the link connecting microcephaly (abnormal smallness of a newborn baby’s head) and the Zika virus was originally met with doubt. Before 2015, Zika virus outbreaks (spread by mosquitoes) were much smaller, with no reports of microcephaly. Over the course of the recent Latin American Zika outbreak, Brazil and other countries began to report abnormally high numbers of cases and babies born with microcephaly. The link between Zika and microcephaly was a game changer for how the public health community responded to the virus. The World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak to be a Global Health Emergency and governments began awareness campaigns largely aimed at pregnant women. To read more of this blog, click here.
Mar 22, 2019
Homeland Preparedness News Reports on Metabiota's MPI Publication
New index offers tool to monitor global disease outlook A new global index offers an original way to monitor national-level preparedness for infectious disease, providing a holistic view of a country’s capacity to mitigate the spread of illness and pandemics. Created by researchers at Metabiota, the Epidemic Preparedness Index (EPI) factors in a country’s economic resources, public health communications, infrastructure, public health systems and institutional capacity. The goal is that this information can be tailored to create tools for governments and public health groups to better respond during a health crisis. The publication of the index appeared in the BMJ Global Health. To read more, click here.
Mar 08, 2019
Insurance Business Magazine Publishes New Metabiota Post on International Women's Day 2019
Why gender matters for global insurance companies With International Women’s Day fast-approaching on March 8, it’s more important than ever before for global companies to evaluate how well they’re diversifying their team and how to ensure the success of their female managers and executives, particularly those in the insurance industry. The share of women sitting on the boards of Fortune 500 companies is roughly 22 percent; however, a study by Catalyst shows that globally, the percentage of women participating in the labor force is declining. And in 2017, women only accounted for 22 percent of executive committee roles in North America. Moreover, only 12 percent of women in the insurance industry are in top management positions, according to a report from Credit Suisse. To read more of this article, click here.
Mar 06, 2019
Metabiota Named to Oxbow Partners Impact25 Top Insurtech Companies List
More proof of the power and promise of Metabiota's innovative approach to epidemic risk modeling – Metabiota was recognized by Oxbow Partners as part of its annual InsurTech Impact 25, which highlights technology-led businesses that are best placed to impact the insurance industry in 2019. Oxbow Partners selects members to the IMPACT 25 list on two criteria: traction as measured by material revenues or revenue growth and potential as defined by a differentiated yet sustainable value proposition. To read more about IMPACT 25, click here. To download the report, click here.
Feb 21, 2019
Metabiota Publishes "Using Social Media to Estimate Zika's Impact on Tourism: #babymoon, 2014-2017" in PLOS ONE
Abstract Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other birth defects. We hypothesized that the Latin America Zika epidemic resulted in pregnant women and their partners adopting behavioral changes to limit risk, leading them to forego travel to Zika-affected locations. We evaluated this hypothesis by studying travelers’ intent and behavior through Twitter data related to babymoon: a holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born. We found the odds of mentioning representative Zika-affected locations in #babymoon tweets dropped significantly (Odds ratio: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.20–0.40) after the Zika-microcephaly association became well-known. This result was further corroborated through a content analysis of #babymoon tweets mentioning Zika-affected locations, which identified if the Twitter user was physically present in the Zika-affected locations. Conversely, we found a small but statistically insignificant increase in the odds of mentioning Zika-free locations from #babymoon tweets (Odds Ratio: 1.11, 95% CI: 0.97–1.27) after the Zika-microcephaly association became well-known. For access to entire publication, click here.
Jan 31, 2019
Metabiota Publishes "Assessing Global Preparedness for the Next Pandemic: Development and Application of an Epidemic Preparedness Index" in BMJ Global Health
Abstract Introduction Robust metrics for national-level preparedness are critical for assessing global resilience to epidemic and pandemic outbreaks. However, existing preparedness assessments focus primarily on public health systems or specific legislative frameworks, and do not measure other essential capacities that enable and support public health preparedness and response. Methods We developed an Epidemic Preparedness Index (EPI) to assess national-level preparedness. The EPI is global, covering 188 countries. It consists of five subindices measuring each country’s economic resources, public health communications, infrastructure, public health systems and institutional capacity. To evaluate the construct validity of the EPI, we tested its correlation with proxy measures for preparedness and response capacity, including the timeliness of outbreak detection and reporting, as well as vaccination rates during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Results The most prepared countries were concentrated in Europe and North America, while the least prepared countries clustered in Central and West Africa and Southeast Asia. Better prepared countries were found to report infectious disease outbreaks more quickly and to have vaccinated a larger proportion of their population during the 2009 pandemic. Conclusion The EPI measures a country’s capacity to detect and respond to infectious disease events. Existing tools, such as the Joint External Evaluation (JEE), have been designed to measure preparedness within a country over time. The EPI complements the JEE by providing a holistic view of preparedness and is constructed to support comparative risk assessment between countries. The index can be updated rapidly to generate global estimates of pandemic preparedness that can inform strategy and resource allocation. To read the entire publication, click here.
Jan 22, 2019
Outbreak News Today Radio Interviewed Metabiota’s Dr. Patrick Ayscue About Epidemic Risk for Industry Sectors
Earlier this month, the pioneer in epidemic risk modeling, Metabiota, unveiled its predictions for the industries that are most likely to be impacted by a healthcare crisis in the year ahead. I was joined by Metabiota’s director of epidemiology, Patrick Ayscue, DVM to discuss these 2019 predictions. Click here to listen to the audio podcast.
Jan 15, 2019