HCC Baccalaureate student Adam Blank uses AI to bring transparency to healthcare costs

For Adam Blank, the Houston City College (HCC) Bachelor of Applied Technology in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics program is more than a degree. It’s an opportunity to lead by example for his children while helping solve a real-world problem that affects millions of Americans.

Raised in a family of educators, Blank developed an early passion for technology while repairing computers at his mother’s high school.

Adam Blank “I loved getting my fingers into electronics,” he said.

Although Blank has built a successful career in IT, school “fell by the wayside” as he focused on work opportunities. That changed in 2021 when his wife told him HCC was launching its AI and Robotics program.

“I knew I had to be in it,” Blank said. “HCC was the only community college offering this course.”

He earned his Associate of Applied Science in AI and Robotics in 2025 and is now pursuing his bachelor’s degree—expected to be completed this fall. Part of that motivation to complete his bachelor’s comes from his family. Blank has three children, including two high school juniors preparing for college.

“I’m convincing my kids they need a degree,” he said. “I can’t in good faith tell them they need one when I don’t have one.”

Blank says the faculty and curriculum at HCC have exceeded his expectations.

While balancing work as a systems engineer for Datavant and family responsibilities, Blank began the program online during the COVID-19 pandemic. His first in-person robotics class, however, reminded him how valuable collaboration can be.

“I realized what I was missing from having personal interactions with other students,” he shared. “Exchanging ideas and learning from each other has been incredible.”

That collaboration helped inspire PriceRXio, an AI-driven project developed with fellow classmate Kolapo Mogaji designed to make healthcare pricing easier to understand. After struggling with unclear insurance billing and inconsistent hospital pricing himself, Blank decided to tackle the issue through AI.

This spring, Blank and Mogaji presented their project to HCC educators, students and industry leaders during the annual Artificial Intelligence Innovation Symposium and Expo at the HCC West Loop Campus.

“As I started seeing the real data hospitals are using, their negotiated insurance prices are sometimes much higher than their cash price,” he explained. “And patients often can’t get clear answers.”

The project uses generative AI to organize and normalize hospital pricing data so patients can ask questions through a chatbot and receive realistic cost estimates. Blank hopes to eventually scale the platform nationwide and create a public-facing resource anyone can use to better understand health care costs.

After completing his bachelor’s degree, Blank’s goal is to move into a new AI Automation Engineering role at his current company, applying the knowledge he gained at HCC directly into the workplace.

“AI is going to touch every industry,” he said. “Having an understanding of the technology gives you an edge.”

To learn more about the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics programs at HCC, visit https://www.hccs.edu/programs--courses/explore-all-programs/artificial-intelligence/

Adam Blank and Kolapo Mogaji present PriceRXio at the recent Artificial Intelligence Innovation Symposium and Expo at the HCC West Loop Campus.