Originally founded in 2007 as Advanced Practice Executives, APPex began as a collection of 10-20 Directors of Advanced Practice—executive leaders at academic medical centers throughout the U.S.—who had administrative oversight of and responsibility for a specific group or groups of APPs. Some of these leaders solely oversaw nurse practitioners, while others oversaw all advanced practice registered nurses along with physician assistants.

Stemming from groundbreaking work and initiatives at Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Hospital & Clinics & Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford), this small group of the first administrative APP leaders was brought together via phone & conference calls and a networking site on the internet. They communicated, discussed issues and concerns, brainstormed ideas, presented experiences and shared documents—all to help one another become acclimated to a novel and unfamiliar role within hospitals.

In 2008, the University of Rochester Medical Center hosted the first annual NP/PA Acute Care Leadership Summit (now called the Advanced Practice Provider Leadership Summit) where these APP leaders and others gathered to share information, develop a consistent platform and map out solutions for universal and reoccurring struggles involving APP managerial matters.

In 2012, APPex announced a formal name change from “Advanced Practice Executives” to “Advanced Practice Provider Executives, Inc. (APPex)”. A new logo was unveiled, inspired from the Stanford Hospital & Clinics logo, where the membership organization and professional network was first conceived.

APPex is a not-for-profit organization [501(c)(3), private foundation].

APPex operates and is functionally headquartered in the Silicon Valley/Bay Area of California.