The Intelligent Infrastructure for Modern Healthcare.
Alto Health provides the operational backbone for specialist clinics and hospitals. We are dedicated to closing the information gap between the initial referral and the point of care. By automating the ingestion and processing of unstructured data, we ensure that clinical and administrative teams have the visibility they need to protect patient safety and secure revenue.
Our Why
One of our founders sat in a hospital café waiting for a physio appointment when they spotted a consultant they knew, triaging referrals by hand. Stacks of paper. Scribbled notes. Passed to a secretary to process. Minutes later, he pointed out another junior doctor at another table doing exactly the same thing.
It struck us then: here's a healthcare system with robots in theatres, AI in diagnostics, cutting-edge technology everywhere—and yet the moment a new patient needs to be seen, it all funnels down to a manual, paper-based process. Coffee stains on referrals. Handwriting nobody can read. Clinical urgency is often decided not by a doctor, but by whoever happens to be sitting at the desk that morning. And as one consultant put it, the person making those decisions is often the lowest-paid, least-clinically-trained person in the entire infrastructure.
That's when we knew: this wasn't a nice-to-have. It was a patient safety issue hiding in plain sight.
Alto Health was founded on a simple observation…painful repetitive, paper based tasks at the front door of high tech care.
Alto Health was founded to address a critical friction point in the patient journey: the "front door" of the clinic. While clinical medicine has seen rapid advancement, the administrative infrastructure supporting it remains largely manual. Currently, 80% of patient data arrives in "unstructured" formats—faxes, emails, and PDFs—leaving clinical and commercial risks invisible until they are manually processed.
We believe that technology should support, not disrupt, the patient-doctor relationship. We built Alto to take the "detective work" out of healthcare administration. By transforming messy, fragmented intake into decision-ready clinical data, we unburden administrative staff and empower clinicians to focus on high-value care.
Based in Ireland and serving the UK and European markets, we are committed to building a transparent, clinical-grade gateway that ensures no patient is lost in the transition from referral to treatment.
Meet the team making it happen
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Marita Kenrick
Co-Founder • CEO | LinkedIn
Marita holds a Master of Public Health from the University of New South Wales, specialising in Health Management. Before founding Alto, she led strategy and insight teams focused on prevention and early diagnosis at the Australian Health Department and Public Health England.
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Xiao Zhang
Co-Founder • CTO | LinkedIn
Xiao studied Computer Science and Computational Linguistics, earning a Master’s in Speech & Language Processing from Trinity College Dublin. Prior to Alto, he worked for Meta’s Oculus and Longcheer, honing his expertise in AI and engineering.
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Dr. Peter Donnelly
Operations and Regulation | LinkedIn
Peter earned his PhD in Digital Signal Processing from Queen’s University and has over 25 years of experience as a medical device innovator. He has founded multiple companies and led Nasdaq listings.
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Dr. Michael O’Dwyer
Clinical Lead
Michael earned his PhD and completed his medical studies at Trinity College Dublin. He is a partner in a group practice, HSE Clinical Lead and Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine.
Alto Health: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Clinical Safety & Governance
How does Alto ensure clinical safety in the triage process? Alto utilises a proprietary "Assistant + Judge" architecture. While the Assistant processes the data, a secondary "Judge" layer validates the output. Furthermore, as a CEClass I Medical Device, Alto is designed to identify and surface high-risk clinical "red flags" for immediate human intervention, ensuring that clinical safety is never compromised by automation.
Is the AI a "Black Box," or can I see how it made a decision? We believe in "Explainable AI." Every recommendation provided by Alto comes with an auditable evidence trail. Clinicians can see exactly which parts of the referral or patient history informed the triage priority or data flag, allowing for total transparency and informed clinical oversight.
Who maintains medical indemnity when using Alto? Alto acts as a support tool, not a replacement for the clinician. By providing a standardised, auditable process for intake, Alto actually helps mitigate risk by ensuring no patient data is overlooked. Ultimate clinical accountability remains with the practitioner, supported by the most robust administrative data available.
Integration & Operations
Which EHR/PAS systems does Alto integrate with? Alto is built on FHIR-based interoperability standards. We are designed to integrate seamlessly with leading Irish and UK systems, including Meditech, Socrates, and Clanwilliam. Our goal is to enhance your existing technology stack without requiring a "rip and replace" of your current systems.
How does Alto help with "Referral Erosion"? Alto provides end-to-end visibility into your intake pipeline. By digitising and triaging referrals the moment they arrive—regardless of source (Fax, HealthLink, Email)—we ensure patients are scheduled faster and don't "leak" out of your network due to administrative delays or missing documentation.
Does Alto replace our administrative staff? On the contrary, Alto is a "force multiplier" for your team. It automates the repetitive, manual tasks—like data entry and chasing missing scans—allowing your administrative staff to focus on high-value patient coordination and improving the overall patient experience.
Implementation & Security
How long does it take to implement Alto in a multi-site network? Implementation varies based on the complexity of the network, but our "Plug-and-Play" architecture is designed for rapid deployment. We typically begin with a "Referral Flow Audit" to map your current processes, followed by a phased rollout to ensure minimal disruption to your daily operations.
How does Alto handle data security and GDPR compliance? Data security is foundational to our architecture. Alto is fully GDPR and NHS Cyber Essentials compliant. All data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and we adhere to the highest international standards for healthcare data residency and privacy.