HILO >> Hospitals on Hawaii’s Big Island face the need to make massive cuts to services if lawmakers don’t approve more funding, an official with the public health care system said.

The East Hawaii operations of Hawaii Health Systems Corp. are expecting a $29 million revenue shortfall next year out of an annual budget of $160 million, said Dan Brinkman, East Hawaii interim CEO.

The following year, the deficit was forecast to grow to $35 million, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Tuesday.

“We’re worried,” Brinkman said. “We have a lot of reason to be concerned for next year.”

The lack of funding stems, in part, from increasing costs and lower reimbursement rates. Facilities like Hilo Medical Center made cuts to traveling nurse positions in recent months to make up for a $9 million deficit.

But finances will be worse next year when the hospital has to pay raises negotiated through collective bargaining, Brinkman said.

“In the past, those pay raises were funded by the Legislature and the executive branch,” Brinkman said. “That didn’t happen last year.”

Bolstering the state’s public health system will be a top priority in the legislative session, said state Sen. Josh Green, chairman of the Senate Health Committee. He said he would support emergency appropriations.

“Without it, my prediction is we’ll see 10 percent of services cut each year for the next three years,” he said.

The long-term fix will likely come in the form of public-private partnerships, Green said. For example, private organizations like Kaiser Permanente and Hawaii Pacific Health have shown interest in partnering with Maui, which faces a $6.4 million shortfall this year.

Brinkman said partnerships work elsewhere but are unlikely to help the Big Island because 75 percent of the region’s reimbursements come from Medicare and Medicaid.

“We’re a very poor region,” Brinkman said. “Maui’s a much more affluent area.”