Eye Health Physicians of Lancaster will close Oct. 31 following the retirement of its owner on Monday.
Ophthalmologist Sandford C. Frisch, owner of the Manheim Township practice and the only full-time doctor on staff, said the move was due to age and health problems. He turns 68 next month and is undergoing the first of two spinal procedures today, he said, and anticipates a long recovery period.
In addition to Sandford Frisch, the practice had two part-time optometrists and seven other employees, he said. Eye Health Physicians of Lancaster, located at 2207 Oregon Pike, Suite 102, stopped seeing patients after Aug. 29, according to its website.
Sandford Frisch has practiced medicine in Lancaster County for a total of 37 years, he said, and had his own practice for the last 34. He said he’s enjoyed his time here.
“Lancaster is a very pleasant place to practice. But … time moves on and … I have to address my own medical needs at this point,” Sandford Frisch said.
Sandford Frisch said he would have preferred to pass the practice along to someone else rather than closing it, but that plan didn’t work out. It’s not easy to recruit younger doctors, he said, who often want to work at a larger organization.
Sandford Frisch said he tried to handle the closure of his practice a little differently than those of other eye practices. Campus Eye Center and Eye Physicians of Lancaster are two that shuttered recently, in 2024 and in April of this year, respectively.
“For the sake of my employees and for the patients we tried to give, like … two months notice,” he said.
Eye Health Physicians of Lancaster is handling the release of medical records in-house, instead of using outside companies, Sandford Frisch said, with the aim of making the process easier for patients. He is paying staff members to stay on and process records.
The cost to patients requesting records is determined by the number of pages, said Jodie Frisch, office manager and wife of Sandford Frisch. She declined to provide the exact rates, but said that they are lower than those set by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and estimated that a patient could pay between $35 to $100.
The practice tried to make the process as economical for patients as possible, Jodie Frisch said. Most patients don’t need 20 years of records, Sandford Frisch said — three years’ worth is usually adequate for the patient’s next doctor.
“We tell (patients) how much they’re gonna be charged … before they get the records, and if they say, ‘well I can’t afford that, that’s too much,’ then we have a conversation and say, ‘let’s see … what do we really need from the chart,’” Jodie Frisch said.
To get the records, patients can fill out and return a form that was distributed by mail, Sandford Frisch said. Anyone who doesn’t have a copy can call the office, which is currently open Monday through Friday, he said. People will be able to stop by or receive the request form by fax. The practice’s phone number is (717) 569-0600.
Forms should be returned as soon as possible. After Oct. 31, patients will need to visit eyehealthphysicians.com for additional information on how to receive their records, according to Sandford Frisch’s retirement letter. Those remaining records will still be handled internally, not by an outside company, Jodie Frisch said.
