The Evolution of AHVAP

A Message from our Founder....

Brooke Berson, RN
Duke University Health System

In February 2000, I was new to Value Analysis and was the first clinical person hired in Purchasing at Duke. Many rudiments of my job were left to me to define. Given the foregoing, I needed colleagues to benchmark clinician practice and on a personal level, career mileposts and expectations.

Spurred by that need, I reached out to 5 other such individuals I'd found through Value Analysis articles and through personal connections and established an email listserv. From that narrow focus grew an organization whose success, worthiness and expertise went way beyond my imagination.

In early 2003, some in this group of colleagues (heretofore known as 'my listserv') began echoing the need to get together. At this point, word of mouth had increased the group's ranks from the initial six to over 100. The need for this group was therefore self-evident and the potential power of meeting face to face was apparent to many of my forward-thinking colleagues. At the initial gathering in Chapel Hill in 2003, the idea for this group crystallized and all left with a sense of mission.

A steering committee was created, and from that, the current structure and bylaws that currently define AHVAP, were created. Armed with a name, and our purpose codified in the bylaws, AHVAP was energized. The 2nd Annual AHVAP Conference in Chicago was a great success and covered a broad but relevant range of topics. The third annual AHVAP conference in October 2005 was graciously hosted by Swedish Health System in Seattle. I look forward to the continued growth of this group and am awed by the evolution and how integral to my job this group has become.