Kolomeyer urges benefit‑focused retina counselling

Anton M. Kolomeyer, a retina specialist at NJRetina, said in a May 12 interview that retina clinics can improve adherence to injections and follow-up visits by centering conversations on what treatment helps patients keep doing day to day. In comments to The American Journal of Managed Care, Kolomeyer said patients are more likely to stay on schedule when clinicians explain the functional benefit of treatment in concrete terms rather than relying on abstract warnings alone. The AJMC interview framed the issue as a communication problem inside a treatment model that often depends on repeated office visits and intravitreal injections over long periods. Kolomeyer said clinicians should use short, consistent explanations that tell patients what therapy is protecting — including reading, driving and other visual tasks — and what can happen when appointments are missed. (ajmc.com) Kolomeyer said that message matters because retinal diseases are often chronic and the treatment burden is visible to patients long before the benefit is. He told AJMC that patients may not always feel an immediate improvement after an injection, which makes expectation-setting important at the start of care and at follow-up visits. In that setting, he said, physicians should be explicit about the goal of preserving vision and function, not only about the mechanics of the injection itself. (ajmc.com) Data cited in a March 2025 Retina Today education supplement show why clinics focus on adherence. The publication said non-adherence to intravitreal injections has ranged from 15% to 95.6% across studies, and the 2023 EURETINA Clinical Trends survey found that only 54% of age-related macular degeneration patients who required regular injections adhered to prescribed schedules. The same supplement said the most common barriers included visit frequency, cited by 67% of respondents, and transportation challenges, cited by 50%. (ajmc.com) Those barriers help explain why Kolomeyer’s comments were operational as much as clinical. He described counseling language as something retina practices can standardize, especially in high-volume settings where physicians and staff have limited time with each patient. The emphasis in the interview was not on a new drug approval or a new device, but on how clinicians present the value of existing care and reinforce the cost of missed treatment. (retinatoday.com) NJRetina identifies Kolomeyer as an ophthalmologist, retina specialist and vitreoretinal surgeon, and AJMC listed him as the speaker in the May 12 piece. His interview also touched on treatment options in the pipeline for retinal disease, but the clearest near-term point was about office practice: use simple language, repeat it consistently and connect adherence to preserved function that patients can recognize in daily life. (ajmc.com) The AJMC interview published on May 12 remains the primary source for Kolomeyer’s comments, and the related ophthalmology coverage is collected on the publication’s specialty compendium page. Retina clinics looking to apply the approach can review the interview alongside broader adherence literature that continues to track missed visits, treatment gaps and other barriers to regular injection schedules. (ajmc.com 1) (ajmc.com 2)