CHAMPS Group Purchasing (GPO), a business affiliate of The Center for Health Affairs, is excited to announce a partnership agreement with Lazurite, a Northeast Ohio-based medical device startup company, to offer Lazurite’s product offerings to members across the United States. The partnership comes after Lazurite was recently awarded 510(k) 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.”

CHAMPS GPO currently serves more than 20,000 member locations 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.

To learn more about CHAMPS Group Purchasing, contact us.

About CHAMPS Group Purchasing

CHAMPS Group Purchasing leverages the purchasing power of 20,000+ member locations across the United States. CHAMPS’ members gain access to significant savings in product categories including medical & surgical supplies, foodservice, IT, wireless, office supplies and facility maintenance. Together with its national GPO partner Premier, CHAMPS supports healthcare and business & industry member supply chain initiatives through their expertise in contract management, aggregation savings, supply chain technology, spend analytics and customized service. Find out more about CHAMPS GPO membership benefits here. Parties interested in partnering with CHAMPS GPO as a contracted supplier can learn more here.

About Lazurite

Lazurite (formerly Indago) is a pre-revenue medical device startup company backed by private capital. The company has raised more than $18 million to date from institutional investors, family offices, and more than 50 physician champions. The Cleveland-based company (est. 2015) designs devices to set new operating-room standards for efficiency and patient safety. Lazurite’s ArthroFree™ System is the first wireless surgical camera system to receive FDA market clearance for broad endoscopic use. The ArthroFree System enables surgical visualization in minimally invasive surgery without the camera and light wires implicated in patient infections, burns, and costly post-operative care. Lazurite’s current product pipeline includes devices that incorporate their patented camera technology and laser light technology. Lazurite’s technologies are protected by a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio encompassing the ArthroFree wireless surgical camera system and the novel Meridiem light source as well as other products currently in development. For more information, see: https://lazurite.co.