Graduate Academy Spotlight: James Buchanan Questions Industry Leaders on Price Transparency

James Buchanan, pictured above, had been thinking about his question long before he raised his hand. Between anatomy labs and business case studies, between hospital rounds and late-night spreadsheets, the dual-degree MD-MBA student at Johns Hopkins University and fellow in the Hopkins Business of Health Initiative (HBHI) followed public debates about health care with intentionality.

On LinkedIn, he watched conversations unfold between Dr. Bai and Mark Cuban about direct primary care, cash-pay medicine, and the promise of transparency in a system built on complexity. In medical school, he met patients who delayed care because they did not know what it would cost. In business school, he studied models designed to make markets more efficient. The gap between the two troubled him.

So, when he stood up at the Entrepreneurship and Health Care Innovation Forum hosted by Steven D. Cohen, and Ge Bai at the Bloomberg Center in D.C., he began with his long-anticipated question: “What are the current barriers to actually implementing more cash pay or pricing transparency for health care services?” Calm and precise, he spoke from lived experience. Patrick Conway spoke about innovation and equity. Mark Cuban argued for real transparency that would allow patients to shop for care and have those choices count. The exchange grew sharper, more honest. But at its center remained James, who had translated everyday frustration into a question leaders could not ignore. Friends describe him as observant and measured, more interested in repairing systems than criticizing them. 

As an HBHI fellow, he is trained to think like an entrepreneur, but his instincts remain clinical. He evaluates ideas by how they affect people in exam rooms and waiting areas, not just balance sheets. After the session, he returned quietly to his notes and coursework, to the demanding dual life of preparing for medicine and management at once.

Yet his question lingered. It reflected a generational shift in health care, embodied by students like James who are learning to read financial statements and vital signs in the same week, who want efficiency without sacrificing equity, and innovation without abandoning compassion. In less than a minute, he reminded a room of executives and policymakers that transparency is not a branding exercise. It is, for patients and future physicians alike, a moral and practical necessity.