In recent weeks, regulators and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have rushed to bail out the nation's banking and automotive industries, recognizing that there would be serious, widespread consequences if these economic engines were allowed to sputter and fail.

There is a major economic player in Hawai'i that needs government intervention as well. But it is not asking for a bailout from the taxpayers. It seeks only fair and reasonable policies that will allow it to continue to produce a rainbow of significant and measurable economic benefits for our citizens and our state for years to come.

The player in need here is healthcare.

The financial stability of healthcare providers in Hawai'i has a direct impact on our ability to protect and improve the health and well-being of our citizens and visitors. The field is singularly focused on that mission.

But the day-to-day responsibility of delivering care often obscures another essential value of our state's healthcare infrastructure.

Healthcare is our second-largest private industry. It produces attractive, well-paying jobs. In fact, few other fields, with the exception of hightech and education, will match the rate of job growth that healthcare is expected to enjoy in the next eight years. Of Hawai'i's 20 fastest-growing occupations, eight fall within the healthcare space.

The pay and benefits earned by employees in healthcare translate into spending that not only supports jobs and sales among hundreds of businesses in our local and state economy, but also produces local, state and federal tax revenue. Our healthcare providers are also major purchasers of goods and services that fuel even more economic activity.

A recent study conducted for Hawai'i Pacific Health found that its nonprofit affiliated hospitals and clinics generated a total of $1.1 billion in direct and indirect economic activity through payroll, the purchase of goods and services, capital improvements, spending by employees and visitors, and other means. Extend that analysis to the other healthcare providers here and you begin to appreciate the powerful economic engine that medicine has become for our state.

Yet, despite all of its contributions, Hawai'i's public and private healthcare field is in serious jeopardy because of insufficient reimbursement policies, rising expenses, and a demand for care that has outstripped capacity.

Providers are no longer being paid for essential services at a level sufficient to cover annually increasing costs. A study by Ernst & Young pegged the reimbursement shortfall for Medicare, Medicaid, QUEST and uninsured patients at $212 million last year.

Unreasonable governmental reimbursement policies, combined with rising costs for everything from prescription drugs to malpractice insurance, translates into service cutbacks and reduced investments in future community needs. The pressure on providers has been compounded by the lack of long-term care facilities for our aging citizens, which has created a shortage of acute care hospital beds.

Unlike the global investment banks and American car makers, our healthcare providers do not need a government bail-out to overcome these challenges, just a prescription of common sense and regulatory leadership: