Treatment Frequency in Retinal Vascular Diseases

In “Treatment Frequency in Retinal Vascular Diseases,” our panel explores how injection frequency and treatment durability influence the overall cost of care and long-term disease management for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), and retinal vein occlusion (RVO). The expert faculty discuss how newer anti-VEGF therapies with extended dosing intervals may impact healthcare resource utilization, patient burden, and payer decision-making across retinal vascular diseases.

The panel highlights the relationship between treatment frequency and total cost of care, emphasizing that therapies with higher per-dose costs may still reduce annual healthcare expenditures by decreasing injection frequency, office visits, imaging utilization, and treatment-related burden over time. The discussion also examines how durable anti-VEGF therapies may help reduce the risk of undertreatment and vision loss by allowing patients to maintain disease control with fewer clinic visits and injections.

In addition, the expert faculty address the importance of individualized treatment selection and maintaining access to multiple anti-VEGF therapy options within clinical practice. The panel explores how some patients may require more durable or higher-dose therapies to adequately control persistent retinal fluid and preserve vision, while other patients may respond well to lower-cost treatment approaches. The discussion also highlights how copay requirements and access restrictions may influence therapy selection and long-term visual outcomes for patients. Throughout the episode, the panel discusses balancing cost stewardship with individualized patient care, ensuring that formulary and access decisions align with real-world treatment needs and long-term disease management goals in retinal vascular diseases.

Our next episode, “Open Access to Anti-VEGF Therapies in Retinal Vascular Diseases,” explores how step therapy, prior authorization requirements, and formulary design may influence treatment selection and access to anti-VEGF therapies. The panelists also discuss how collaboration between payers and retina specialists may help balance healthcare sustainability with individualized patient care and long-term visual outcomes.