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Between Heartbeats and Algorithms: Reclaiming What Matters in Healthcare

Paperback

Publication Date: October 24, 2025

A Physician Leader's Guide to People-Centered Care in the Age of the Algorithm

In the fast-paced corridors of modern healthcare, something vital is slipping away — the human connection that makes healing possible. Between Heartbeats and Algorithms: Reclaiming What Matters in Healthcare is a powerful, deeply moving book that challenges the growing dominance of data and technology in medicine, offering a roadmap back to compassion, presence, and the true art of healing.

Through fifteen unforgettable patient stories, Devjit Roy, MD — a hospitalist, palliative care physician, and healthcare leader — reflects on the moments that define the heart of medicine. These are not just clinical encounters; they are profound lessons on empathy, grief, silence, and the courage to remain human in a system that often prioritizes speed and efficiency over connection.

Whether you are a physician, nurse, medical student, healthcare executive, or simply someone yearning for meaning in an impersonal world, this book offers validation and practical guidance. It is a call to action for anyone who feels the weight of burnout, the emptiness of metrics, or the loss of humanity in care.

Between Heartbeats and Algorithms is more than a book — it is a reminder that healing is not found in algorithms alone. It is found in the unbillable moments of connection, compassion, and presence. This is your guide to reclaiming the soul of medicine, embracing innovation without losing the humanity that lies at its core.

Because even in an age of automation, there is still room for humanity — if we choose to protect it.


About Author(s)
Table of Contents

Devjit Roy, MD, MAS, MSPC, FHM, FAAFP, LSSBB, CHCQM, CMD, CPE, brings a unique perspective to healthcare leadership as both a practicing physician and senior executive. As chief medical officer, chief medical information officer, and vice president of medical affairs at Nathan Littauer Hospital, Nursing Home, and their ambulatory network, he leads initiatives to enhance patient care and optimize healthcare delivery in rural New York.

Roy's journey to medicine began with engineering, instilling the analytical mindset and systems thinking that complement his board certifications in Family Medicine, Hospital Medicine, Palliative and Hospice Medicine, Obesity Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine. With dual master's degrees in Population Health and Palliative Care, he approaches medicine with a holistic, evidence-based perspective honed through diverse leadership roles including Medical Director positions in Cancer Research, wellness and lifestyle medicine, and Hospital Medicine.

With expertise spanning clinical care, medical informatics, population health, and executive leadership, Roy is uniquely positioned to address the complex challenges facing modern healthcare while never losing sight of its fundamentally human purpose.

For over 50 years.

The American Association for Physician Leadership has helped physicians develop their leadership skills through education, career development, thought leadership and community building.

The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) changed its name from the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) in 2014. We may have changed our name, but we are the same organization that has been serving physician leaders since 1975.

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