Hawaii’s public hospital system — the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation — has been prominent in the news in recent weeks. Concerns about budget deficits and growing expenses in a changing health care environment are an important topic for discussion among all stakeholders: our communities, patients, employees, medical staffs and clinicians, public unions and our legislators.

HHSC has a board of directors that includes community members from the five regions — Oahu, Kauai, Maui, East Hawaii and West Hawaii — as well as the CEOs of those regions (ex-officio), the director of the state Department of Health and one at-large appointee. The regional structure of governance was created in 2007 under Act 290 to give the regions, whose representatives understand the needs of their vastly different island communities best, the authority to manage their own operations and budgets under regional boards, while at the same time working together as a system for collective efficiencies and best practices.

As volunteers, board members at both the corporate and regional levels give countless hours of their expertise and time to HHSC because they are passionate about everyone having access to quality, affordable health care, regardless of their ability to pay. Without this, people would leave Hawaii, and individuals and businesses would not come here, which would affect our state and island economies and quality of life.

In our public hospital system, our employees are its greatest asset. It employs many highly trained professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.), and committed and talented staff to keep the hospitals running smoothly.

Throughout HHSC’s history, dating back to 1996, we have been dependent on financial support from the state, as caring for our safety-net population means we do not always get paid for services provided.

Unfortunately, the budget deficit has grown considerably due to many factors — wage and benefit increases, reduced reimbursements, technology upgrade requirements (electronic medical records), capital needs for our aging facilities, increased costs for drugs and supplies and many other costs, such as insurance and utilities.

These have come at a time when our state is struggling to meet the financial needs of its many different departments, and we understand the challenges our legislators and governor face in making these difficult decisions. That is why for many years, we have been committed to improving operational efficiencies and pursuing other possible resources through public-private partnerships, collaborative service agreements and other types of cooperative relationships.

On behalf of HHSC, I say thank you to our volunteers, staff, leadership and community members for their support — and ask state leaders to remain forward-thinking about solutions that put our patients first and prioritize the health of our keiki and generations of Hawaii families above anything else.

As uncertain as the future may be, HHSC remains dedicated to making quality and accessibility its top priorities.