Kathleen Hickman, RN, BSN, MS, CASC, Administrator and Clinical Director of Dutchess Ambulatory Surgical Center

Summary

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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Interview with Kathleen Hickman, RN, BSN, MS, CASC

Guest: Kathleen (Kathy) Hickman, Administrator and Clinical Director, Dutchess Ambulatory Surgical Center
Host: Francesca Matthews
Release Date: November 18, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features an insightful conversation with Kathleen “Kathy” Hickman, a seasoned leader in ambulatory surgical care. The discussion centers on current trends in ASCs (Ambulatory Surgical Centers), with a focus on consolidation, artificial intelligence (AI), and expanding the scope of outpatient procedures. Kathy draws from 25 years of experience, sharing strategic perspectives, practical advice, and key considerations for centers aiming to grow and innovate.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Guest Background and Experience

• Kathy's Role and Tenure ([01:11]):
  • Kathy has worked at the Dutchess Ambulatory Surgical Center for 25 years.
  • Holds administrative and nursing roles, combining leadership with direct clinical involvement.
  • Credentials: RN, BSN, MS, CASC-certified.
  • "I also work part time as a nurse with my company because I think it's important to be part of that." – Kathy ([01:18])

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2. Top Trends in Healthcare and ASCs ([01:59])

Kathy identifies three major trends shaping the ASC landscape:

• Consolidation:

  • Increasing mergers and partnerships among ASCs.
  • Pros: Greater buying power, economies of scale, improved market leverage.
  • Cons: Potential reduction in competition and autonomy.
  • "It could also decrease competition and a little bit of loss of autonomy, but that's okay. I think that there's enough out there for all of us to share." – Kathy ([02:27])

• Artificial Intelligence (AI):

  • Seen as a future driver for efficiency and operational support (expanded upon later).

• Moving Higher Acuity Cases to ASCs:

  • Emerging ability to handle more complex procedures like cardiology and orthopedic "total joints."
  • Notably, in New York, cardiology procedures are close to being approved in ASCs, signaling a significant shift.

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3. Expansion of Service Lines: How to Prepare ([03:09])

• Facilities and Infrastructure:

  • Centers must plan physical space and resources for new, higher-acuity procedures (e.g., total joints require more room).
  • Kathy’s team built a new ASC with future growth in mind.

• Staff Preparation and Recruitment:

  • Assess local market for available providers/surgeons capable of shifting to ASC settings.
  • Proactively prepare staff for the learning curve, especially with specialized procedures.

• Operational Readiness:

  • Early communication and planning for new procedures (e.g., minor ASC cardiac cases).
  • Analyze technology, investment costs, and reimbursement rates.

Memorable Quote:

• "It's knowing your players, your market, the learning curve for your staff...understand the technology, look at the cost for adding that and what is the reimbursement. Make sure that we're prepared to understand how much it will cost us to bring these cases in." – Kathy ([04:36])

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4. Growth Outlook for the Next 12 Months ([05:12])

• CMS Code Expansion:

  • Excitement about CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) approval of over 276 new codes for 2026, opening opportunities for new procedures in ASCs.
  • "We think that's going to be one of our areas of growth." – Kathy ([05:26])

• Organizational Culture:

  • Emphasizes that culture is a growth enabler:
    • “Culture enables innovation, innovation promotes growth.” ([05:39])
  • Leadership and staff engagement are key to successfully leveraging new codes and expanding services.

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5. The Role of AI in ASCs ([06:13])

• AI for Efficiency and Staffing:

  • AI may alleviate persistent staffing challenges, automating certain roles or tasks where hiring is difficult.
  • Cautions against losing the "human touch," especially in patient-facing interactions like phone calls.
  • "We answer our phones. I think everyone should look at that. Do we, do we go to our phones answered or are they going into a tree when you're the 12th caller?" – Kathy ([06:44])

• Advice:

  • Encourages centers to begin exploring and piloting AI, even in limited forms, to enhance operations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ASC Growth and Innovation:

  • “Culture enables innovation, innovation promotes growth.” – Kathy ([05:39])

• On Expansion Planning:

  • "We built with the future in mind so we know that we can add total joints at any time." – Kathy ([03:53])

• On AI and the Human Touch:

  • “A huge important part of our workplace is that human touch.” – Kathy ([06:35])

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Segment Timestamps

• [01:11] – Kathy introduces herself and her career background.
• [01:59] – Top three ASC trends: consolidation, AI, higher-acuity cases.
• [03:09] – Preparing for new service lines (total joints, cardiology).
• [05:12] – Growth outlook: CMS code expansion, cultural innovation.
• [06:13] – Role of AI in future ASC operations and patient care.

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Closing

Kathy Hickman’s practical leadership and future-focused perspective offer listeners actionable strategies for ASC growth, service expansion, and leveraging innovation—delivered in her collegial, grounded style.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hello, this is Francesca Matthews with the Beckers ASC Review Podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Kathleen Hickman, administrator and Clinical Director of the Dutchess Ambulatory Surgical Center. Thank you so much for being here today.

[C]

Well, thank you for having me. It's my pleasure.

[B]

Yeah, of course. To start us off, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background?

[C]

Yes, of course. So I am Kathy Hickman. I go by Kathy. Kathleen is my formal name. But yes, I am. I am part of the ASC industry and proudly. I have been working at my center for 25 years. This year, I do serve as the administrator. I do now have a clinical director, so I don't have to use that role as much. But my background is nursing. I am a nurse by trade and I also work part time as a nurse with my company because I think it's important to be part of that. So I am my. I have a master's in healthcare administration as well as my bachelor's in nursing, and I am CASC certified and I just love the ASC industry.

[B]

Okay, excellent. And we'll just jump into some questions here. To start off kind of broadly, what are the top three trends that you're following in healthcare and ASCS today?

[C]

Well, there are so many trends, I guess if I had to think about. What I'm most interested in or thinking about is one, consolidation. Number two, AI, and number three, moving higher acuity cases to our settings. Those are my three top trends I'm following.

[B]

And what are you most excited about right now?

[C]

Well, back to the question too. I guess I'm excited about all of those trends because with consolidation, we are seeing a lot more and more AOCs, consolidating a lot of pros and cons with that. We certainly would have better buying power, better economies of scale, and maybe better market clout. Again, it could also decrease competition and a little bit of loss of autonomy, but that's okay. I think that there's enough out there for all of us to share. I am very excited about the increased move for acuity, higher acuity cases to our ASCs. I think in New York itself, cardiology has not been, that has not been approved. But now we're getting towards a closer approval process for adding cardiology to our ASCs and moving out of the hospital settings as well as total joints. That is more prominent, but it's becoming more and more in many or many of the ASCs.

[B]

That definitely echoes just things I'm hearing over here on the ASC side of things. Just a little follow up there. I know total joints and cardiology are both, you know, specialties or areas that I know a lot of people are looking at as far as expanding service lines. I'm wondering, you know, since we're still in like the very, like you said, early stages of that kind of. How are you thinking about that right now? What are in these early stages? What can one do to sort of, you know, begin to evaluate that and prepare for potentially expansion of those service lines as they become more widely approved?

[C]

Well, I think creating this space in your ASC and if you're a new build, you. You can also plan ahead to have that availability in terms of the space to do some of these total joints do require a lot of room. So we actually just built our ASC two years ago. We were in a prior location for over 20 years and we built with the future in mind so we know that we can add total joints at any time. We have a 23 hour stay room as well. I think maybe ASCs just need to be prepared. I think we have to know how to recruit. We need to know what our market is around us to see who these providers are. Are there surgeons in the area that are able to move into the setting of an asc? So I think it's knowing your players, your market, the learning curve for your staff, you know, get those people prepared ahead of time. Talk about doing some of those minor ASC cardiac procedures if it's going to come to fruition. Let them know ahead of time how we're going to do this, understand the technology, look at the cost for adding that and what is the reimbursement. Make sure that we're prepared to understand how much it will cost us to bring these cases in. You know, what's the on investment? I think all of those things are things I would say people should be prepared for. Moving new service lines into their center.

[B]

Absolutely. Yeah. I think that again, just those are questions that I Think a lot of leaders are sort of considering right now kind of still digging into this, you know, this topic of expansion. How are you thinking about growth over the next 12 months?

[C]

Well, I'm thinking about growth in terms of CMS finally looking at more codes that can be done in our ASC setting. So that's really exciting to us because we know that they've approved over 276 codes for 2026. So we know that with that there'll be several codes that we can grow our center. So we think that's going to be one of our areas of growth. And we're looking a lot toward culture as well. Culture is something that I think isn't looked at enough. But culture enable enables innovation, innovation promotes growth. So the more innovative you can become with these newer codes and these expanded codes, I think we have more staff engagement, we have leadership development and I think that would be a very big area for us to look. Look at it in the next 12 months is the CMS approval list to see what we can do to add to our center and then how to really enhance our growth, our culture to enable innovation and then grow even bigger.

[B]

Absolutely. Is there anything else that I haven't touched on today that you think is really important in this conversation?

[C]

Let's see. We talked about consolidation. I think AI. I think we're all looking at AI. AI is very important. I think we can really use AI to our benefit. It'll help probably create efficiencies for us. We have a never ending staff staffing challenge. It may be able to take over a space that we could not fill. Maybe we can engage AI to help us do some of the work that otherwise a person has done. Again, not to move our physical employees out. I think that's a huge important part of our workplace is that human touch. We answer our phones. I think everyone should look at that. Do we, do we go to our phones answered or are they going into a tree when you're the 12th caller? I think that definitely is a negative feedback to our patients. But again, AI is something that I think we should probably at least start dabbling in looking at to see what we can do to help make changes for asc.

[B]

Absolutely. Well, that is all I have for you today. Kathy. Thank you so much for joining us.

[C]

Well, thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. It's always wonderful. Becker's is a great, great format and we really enjoy them.

[B]

Well, thank you so much. Well, yeah, it's been a pleasure speaking with you too. And I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

[C]

Great. Thank you. Same as you, Francesca. I appreciate your time today.