CLEVELAND– Medical device and technology company Lazurite today announced an agreement with CHAMPS Group Purchasing (GPO), a business affiliate of The Center for Health Affairs, through which CHAMPS GPO will offer Lazurite’s products to its members across the United States. The partnership follows Lazurite’s receiving 510(k) market clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its ArthroFree™ Wireless Surgical Camera System.
“This partnership with Lazurite creates exciting opportunities to offer cost savings to CHAMPS’ members in healthcare, especially those we serve in surgery centers,” said Maria Summers, director of CHAMPS GPO. “When we make a recommendation to a member, we want to make sure we’re offering them the latest and greatest. Lazurite’s novel technologies check both of those boxes and we’re excited to offer their products to our members.”
“Lazurite is excited to partner with CHAMPS Healthcare to extend our marketing and distribution reach across the United States,” Lazurite President Leah Brownlee said. “As a startup, there is no way we could do this ourselves. The endorsement from such respected organizations means a lot in the healthcare market. This collaboration is another example of the resources available in Northeast Ohio that support medical device startups like Lazurite,” she added.
Lazurite and CHAMPS also announced that a representative from CHAMPS will be available to answer questions at the Lazurite booth (No. 424) at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) Annual Meeting, April 27-30 in Dallas.
CHAMPS GPO currently serves more than 20,000 members nationwide, including organizations in hospital, surgery center and ambulatory-care markets across the United States. With its national GPO partner Premier, CHAMPS supports its member supply chain initiatives through their expertise in contract management, aggregation savings, supply chain technology and spend analytics.
In July 2021, The Center for Health Affairs announced it would be collaborating with Lazurite to bring revolutionary smart surgical tools to market and to operating rooms across Northeast Ohio and the United States. The CHAMPS GPO agreement brings opportunity for further connection between The Center and its affiliates and the Lazurite team.
“This collaboration has served as an example of the game-changing health innovation underway in Northeast Ohio,” said Tracy Wise, senior vice president of business operations and administration for The Center for Health Affairs and CHAMPS Healthcare. “Progressing technologies to serve our local region is an important objective for us as an organization. We are excited for the expansion of our relationship and look forward to what the future holds for Lazurite.”
Co-founded in 2015 by CEO Eugene Malinskiy, Lazurite is developing novel technologies for the future of surgical care with a smart platform for a highly efficient, tech-enabled suite of tools. The company’s product pipeline features the modular ArthroFree™; ORFree™, a prototype portable and wireless surgical tower in a briefcase designed for use with the ArthroFree wireless camera; and others based on the company’s novel and patented Meridiem™ light engine technology.
