menchipatient concierge

Menchi Patient FAQ

Plain-English answers to the most common questions patients have when they call a clinic that uses Menchi.

What is Menchi?

Menchi is a digital concierge that helps clinics handle their phone calls. When you call a clinic that uses Menchi, you may speak with Menchi to book an appointment, leave a message, or ask for a call back from someone on the team.

Why am I talking to a digital concierge instead of a person?

Clinics use Menchi so they can answer every call. Even at busy moments, after hours, or when their team is with another patient. Anything that needs a person still goes to the clinic’s own staff; Menchi makes sure no call is missed in the first place.

Can I talk to a real person if I want to?

Yes. Just ask, and Menchi records a callback request that the clinic team sees on their dashboard, so a person calls you back. If you prefer not to use Menchi at all, let the clinic know.

Can I cancel or reschedule my appointment by phone?

At clinics that have turned this on, yes. Tell Menchi the day and time of your appointment. Menchi checks that you are calling from the number on the booking before it changes anything. If it cannot confirm that, it takes a callback request so someone at the clinic can help you.

What happens if my call drops?

If the line cuts out before you are done, some clinics have Menchi send you one short text asking you to call back. The text does not repeat anything you said on the call.

Where does my call data go?

When you call, three things happen:

  1. During the call: your speech passes through US-based service providers (Twilio, and Deepgram and ElevenLabs within Twilio’s voice session) that turn it into text and turn Menchi’s replies back into speech. The text of the conversation is sent to Anthropic (US) to work out what to say.
  2. The conversation runs in Canada. Once your words are text, they are handled by Menchi’s own software running in Toronto, not in the US.
  3. After the call: your transcript and booking are stored in Canada (Montréal, on Supabase infrastructure).

Is my call recorded?

No. Menchi does not record your call. Your speech is converted to text as you speak, and no audio file of the call is created or stored anywhere. What is kept is the written transcript.

How long is my call data kept?

Call data has these retention periods:

  • Transcripts: 1 year
  • Appointment details: until your appointment date plus 1 year
  • Audit log entries (records of when data was accessed, never the data itself): 7 years

Is my data used to train AI?

No. Never. Menchi does not use your call data to train, fine-tune, or improve any artificial intelligence system. Neither Menchi’s own systems nor those of its service providers. Anthropic, which generates Menchi’s replies, is contractually prohibited from training its models on our data. Your call exists to book your appointment and serve the clinic. Nothing more.

Who can access my data?

  • The clinic that you called. Their authorized staff can access your call records through Menchi’s clinic portal.
  • Menchi’s privacy officer (Alejandro Zuluaga at Zalto Inc.) for technical support, audit, or breach response, and only on a least-privilege basis with audit logging.
  • No one else. Menchi’s systems use Row-Level Security to ensure clinics cannot see each other’s data, and Menchi staff cannot access your data without it being logged.

How do I see what data Menchi has about me?

Contact the clinic where you’re a patient. Under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), the clinic is required to provide you a copy of your personal health information on request. The clinic will ask Menchi for the relevant data and provide it to you within the timeline PHIPA requires.

How do I correct or delete my data?

Same path: contact the clinic. The clinic instructs Menchi to make the correction or deletion. Both are typically completed within 5 business days.

What happens if there is a data breach?

If something goes wrong, whether a security incident at Menchi or one of our service providers, we notify the affected clinic within 24 hours. The clinic, as your healthcare provider, is then responsible for notifying you under PHIPA. You will hear about it from the clinic, not directly from Menchi, with information about what happened, what data was affected, and what to do.

Who do I contact with privacy questions?

For Menchi:

  • Email: menchi@zalto.live
  • Mailing: Zalto Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
  • Privacy officer: Alejandro Zuluaga, Founder

For the clinic: see their privacy notice for their privacy contact.

For complaints to the regulator: the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at https://www.ipc.on.ca or 1-800-387-0073.

Where can I read more?