Virtual Hallway has introduced Asklepius, an AI-powered clinical tool designed for Canadian frontline healthcare providers. The solution merges artificial intelligence with input from specialists within Canada’s health system.
The introduction extends Virtual Hallway’s current model, previously centered on linking clinicians with specialists for peer consultations. Asklepius targets questions answerable via published evidence, while the consultation service continues to focus on cases requiring another clinician’s judgment and expertise.
Development and Features
Virtual Hallway states the platform sources information from over 500 clinical guidelines, provincial formularies, Health Canada drug monographs, and CPS drug data provided via a content partnership with the Canadian Pharmacists Association. The company emphasizes answers are evidence-based and verifiable, aiming to support clinical judgment rather than replace it.
During a six-month pilot, more than 750 physicians and nurse practitioners across Canada tested Asklepius. This phase gathered input to refine the tool to match how Canadian practitioners operate in daily practice.
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Need for Quick Access to Trusted Information
Virtual Hallway framed Asklepius around a frequent challenge in clinical settings, referencing a JAMA Internal Medicine study showing clinicians pose 57 questions per 100 patients. This shows the demand for rapid access to reliable information during care.
Canadian clinicians have historically relied on tools designed for other healthcare systems and adapted them locally, the company noted. In contrast, Asklepius was developed in Canada by a team embedded in the domestic health system, including practicing physicians, and reviewed continuously by Canadian specialists.
Focus on Canadian Clinical Practice
Dr. Daniel Rasic, Virtual Hallway’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, said the goal was closing the gap between having a clinical query and quickly locating a trustworthy answer. “As a physician, you have a question and the answer lives somewhere, but finding it fast, and trusting what comes back, that’s the challenge,” said Dr. Rasic.
“Virtual Hallway has a network of specialists and clinicians who trust each other. Asklepius adds a knowledge layer to that trusted network, resulting in better answers for our health system, developed by people who work inside it. What they wanted to build was something that reflects the way clinicians actually work. Sometimes you need to quickly find the evidence behind a clinical question, and sometimes you need to talk it through with another clinician who has seen it before. Asklepius gives clinicians another way to get to that trusted information without losing the clinical judgment that ultimately sits with the person caring for the patient.”
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The product’s emphasis on Canadian clinical practice is central to its launch. Virtual Hallway noted healthcare decisions are influenced by local guidelines, available medications, provincial formularies, and patient care pathways unique to each region. “Healthcare is local in ways that aren’t always obvious until you’re the clinician trying to make a decision,” said Rasic.
Virtual Hallway asserts the tool should complement, not replace, the clinician-patient relationship. Feedback from early users helped identify optimal use cases and areas requiring stronger evidence or clearer sourcing, the company added. “The goal isn’t to put AI between clinicians and their patients. It’s to make trusted clinical knowledge easier to access when clinicians need it,” said Rasic.
Asklepius is now free for licensed Canadian physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, registered nurses, physician assistants, and resident physicians. Virtual Hallway’s specialist consultation service is active in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
