Bring It On

One of the most famous commentaries on the pursuit of happiness came from a group of shaggy rock stars in 1969: “You can't always get what you want,” The Rolling Stones told us. But not getting what we want is only part of the problem, according to Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard. When it comes to predicting happiness, Gilbert says, “The problem is you can't always know what you want.”

At the heart of Gilbert's theory is the idea that humans tend to overestimate the impact of events — both good and bad — on their lives. We predict that winning the lottery will solve all of our problems. We predict we'll never recover from the loss of a job or the end of a relationship. And we do this because we underestimate our ability to adapt, he says.

The truth is humans are hard-wired with a remarkable ability to adapt, especially when it comes to catastrophic events, Gilbert explains. When something bad happens, our defenses kick in automatically, helping us to acclimate to whatever comes our way.

For home medical equipment providers, Gilbert's theory has broad implications that resonate with the industry's past, its present and its predictions about the future. But in pondering the tough changes brought about by Medicare reform, most providers are confident they'll make it in the new environment and are already formulating business strategies they believe will see them through.

That's not to say it will be easy — quite the opposite, in fact, and the providers HomeCare spoke with for this story note that the choices they must make to protect their companies will be difficult. But when it comes to serving customers and preserving profits, these providers say they will do whatever it takes.

“I'm not worried about all of the changes. I'm looking at it as another challenge,” says Randy Freeman, owner of Mediwell in Fort Worth, Texas. “That's what gets me fired up.”

Efficiency May Be Cure for This ‘Broken Leg’

“When really bad things happen to us, we defend against them,” Gilbert says. “[But] people, of course, predict the opposite. If you ask, ‘What would you rather have, a broken leg or a trick knee?’ they'd probably say ‘trick knee.’ And yet, if your goal is to accumulate maximum happiness over your lifetime, you just made the wrong choice. A trick knee is a bad thing to have.”