Leadership Spotlight: Alex Binder

Alex Binder didn’t set out to build a career in healthcare. In the late 1990s, while working in retail banking, he was presented with a unique opportunity that would ultimately change his career trajectory.

“Thirty years ago, a buddy of mine decided that he was going to make house calls,” Alex recalls. “He was a good doctor but struggled with billing and operations, and in 1999, he contacted me and said, ‘Do you want to take a look at what I’m doing and help me put together a business plan and a roadmap?’”

What started as a short-term project turned into something much bigger. After initially helping to organize the practice, Alex returned full-time in 2001. At the time, there were just five employees. Over the next decade, that small, unconventional model grew into Visiting Physician Services (VPS), a nationally recognized leader in home-based primary care, serving homebound, medically complex patients.

“We take care of the sickest segment of the population in the most cost-effective manner,” Alex says. “Those with high frailty and low mobility who are homebound are given high-touch care with compassion and expertise.”

Reimagining Care at Home

For many people, house calls feel like a relic of the past, something remembered from childhood rather than modern medicine.

“Whenever we talk about it, people say either, ‘That doesn’t exist,’ or ‘I remember the day,’” Alex says.

But the reality, he explains, is that the model faded because of economics. Traditional fee-for-service healthcare made it difficult to sustain a house call model that requires prioritizing time, access, and individualized care.

What began as Visiting Physician Services has since evolved into the Parker Advanced Care Institute (PACI), reflecting both its growth and its expanding role across the healthcare continuum.

In his role, Alex oversees operations that expand home-based primary care and palliative services in eight counties. The program builds on the foundation established 30 years ago, organizing a dedicated team of geriatric clinicians to help patients with late-stage chronic illnesses remain at home, where they are often most comfortable.

“Ultimately, we deliver tremendous value to the patients, to the families, and to society,” he says. “Because a lot of this is funded through Medicare, it’s really about doing what’s right not just for the patient, but for neighbors and communities.”

Finding the Right Partner

By the early 2010s, it became clear that sustaining and growing a model like VPS would require scale, infrastructure, and the right strategic partner.

“We were such a unique program that we knew we needed to look for more traditional partners,” Alex explains. “You had to be part of a bigger system or network to succeed.”

After exploring multiple options, VPS ultimately joined VNA Health Group in 2015. “We worked with a lot of home health and hospice agencies,” he says. “But we were able to develop a more personal relationship with the VNA. They were approachable, reasonable, and willing to work with us to put together processes that helped both organizations.”

As with any new partnership, there was a period of adjustment as teams got to know one another.

“Early on, it was challenging in some cases because we felt like an outsider in an established organization,” Alex says. “But over time, we’ve all earned each other’s trust. The culture has shifted to be more cooperative and collaborative—what can we do as a group to accomplish common goals.”

A Different Way of Practicing Medicine

Coming from a banking background, Alex admits he was surprised by what he discovered when he first entered healthcare.

“Medicine is as much an art as a science,” he says. “I was surprised to see that you could present the same patient to three physicians and get three different treatment plans.”

That complexity, and the realities of a system that often prioritizes volume, influenced his perspective. “We strive to do the best for each one of our patients, but we know that healthcare is a business,” he says. “And while many people are doing the right thing, there are times when incentives don’t fully align with what’s best for the patient—and in some cases, bad actors exploit those misaligned incentives, which is frustrating for all of our hardworking team.”

What makes this model different, he believes, is its ability to stay grounded in that broader perspective. “The goal is to have a holistic view—what’s best for the patient and for humanity—not just what’s best for a program or a practice.”

It’s a philosophy that aligns closely with VNA Health Group’s mission and longstanding commitment to community-based care.

The Work That Matters Most

“The clinicians who go out there and do this work, helping patients and families in their homes…that’s truly sacred labor,” he says. “The level of compassion and humility that’s required is beyond compare.”

For Alex, that’s what ultimately defines the program. While the model is complex and often difficult to execute, the impact is clear in both patient outcomes and the experiences of the families it serves.

“Every day, when I look around, there are very few programs that do what we do,” he says. “It makes me realize how difficult this work is, and how reluctant many systems are to take it on.”

Even so, he believes the value is undeniable.

“The care that we deliver is unparalleled,” he says. “I don’t think there is a better model for this unrehearsed phase of life, as we help patients and families manage medical, emotional, and spiritual issues.

Looking Ahead

As healthcare continues to evolve, Alex believes that models like the Parker Advanced Care Institute, along with the broader shift toward care in the home, will play an increasingly important role in meeting the needs of an aging population. 

For him, the focus remains on expanding access, deepening partnerships, and building a model of care that allows patients to receive high-quality, compassionate care at home. At the same time, he sees growing recognition of the value this approach brings—not only to patients and families, but to the healthcare system as a whole.

At the center of it all are the patients—and the teams who care for them. And in that work, he sees something rare: a model that not only works, but truly makes a difference.