Our Foundation has one major
objective, and that is to help people
who have life-threatening illnesses
and no financial means via insurance
or personal resources to pay for the
medical attention needed to save or
prolong their lives.
In order to maximize the use of our
own funds, we must carefully
negotiate with hospitals and doctors
to procure the absolutely finest
treatment for the patient at the
minimum of cost to us. All of the
negotiations must be carried out
with great awareness that patient
care is not jeopardized in favor of
dollars saved.
This sometimes necessitates
pitting one qualified hospital against
another, and one doctor or medical
team against another in our
determination to reduce, where
possible, the cost of each and every
procedure we undertake to support.
In today’s medical arena, hospitals
tend to be quite competitive with
each other for cases available.
Additionally, the positive public
relations they gain by taking on high
profile, difficult cases is a highly
valuable asset to hospitals. The Ray
Tye Medical Aid Foundation is able
to attract media attention to the
hospital, and this is a great asset in
our ability to negotiate.
Our careful negotiations have
resulted in major hospitals agreeing
to “across the board” discounts of
25% or more for the use of their
operating rooms and other services.
Also, many times the attending
doctors themselves will donate their
services at either a reduced rate or
at no cost to us at all. These
wonderful men and women provide
us with heightened incentives to go
on with our work, and we are so
thankful to them for helping us make
the best use of our dollars available.
There are some cases where only
specific hospitals and doctors can be
involved in a case because of the
special medical expertise needed.
Examples of this are SanFilippo
syndrome, which you can read about
in this issue, and the conjoined
Ibrahim Twins from Egypt who were
successfully separated in Dallas last
October in a risky 38-hour surgery.
Negotiating on a very professional
basis with hospitals and doctors in
order to secure the best care for our
cases at the least cost to our
Foundation is where it’s at, and will
be, long into the future.
