Intensive Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Programs: A Progressive Way to Successfully Manage Health Care

Intensive therapeutic lifestyle change (ITLC) programs have been shown to consistently achieve improved biologic markers for cardiac heart disease risk in short periods of time. We propose a standard definition of ITLC and discuss the specifics that are critical to their success. We include a discussion of our experiences with delivering ITLC programs in large health care systems and use that to illustrate opportunities for ITLC implementation in the future. Finally, we discuss the current drivers of change in the US health care reform movement and comment on their predictable effects on the current health care landscape.