Kato Advisory was founded on a simple premise: public and private health systems aren't serving separate populations — they're serving the same person, often at the same time. Whether a client is working to improve its own operations or to build stronger partnerships across the public-private line, the firm brings the experience and analytical rigor to surface what's really happening and design what should happen next.

The firm partners with health care organizations, county agencies, community-based organizations, and managed care plans on the challenges that matter most to them — from strengthening internal operations and optimizing revenue to navigating new policy environments, improving the patient experience, and building cross-sector partnerships that better serve shared populations. Every engagement begins with listening to the client's specific challenges and goals and ends with practical recommendations and implementation plans that hold up operationally, financially, and for the people the work is meant to serve.

The firm takes on a small number of clients at a time. Every engagement is led personally by founder Allison (Ali) Kato, who spent more than 20 years inside both public and private health systems before launching Kato Advisory. She has held leadership roles in county government and at a Fortune 500 health care organization, with deep expertise in managed care for Medicare and Medicaid populations, complex and integrated care for individuals with physical and behavioral health needs, public-private partnership design, and policy implementation including Medi-Cal reform under CalAIM.

Ali holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

At the core of the firm is a simple but powerful belief: when systems work better, people's lives do too.