The good news for Optum Rx clients is that Optum Rx ships all temperature-sensitive medications in carefully designed temperature-controlled packaging. We have been working for years to research, benchmark, test, and re-test our packaging systems, with results certified by a third-party test laboratory.
As a result, today our cold chain packaging not only meets but exceeds international standards.
The amount of time a package takes to arrive is a critical variable. While the standard is to protect inside package temperature for 24 hours, Optum Rx packaging supports a 35-hour shipping and delivery duration.13 This means our packages provide a full 45% more protection than the standard.
That extra time closes the “last mile” gap. Our built-in 45% time cushion allows for unforeseen delays in the delivery process, plus provides additional hours of protection in case the package must wait at the member’s door.
The second variable is the outside temperature range that the package is expected to travel through.
Optum Rx uses different temperature profiles depending on the season. Which profile is used is based on how long the package will be in transit, and more importantly, what part of the country it will travel through on its way to our member. In every case, the profile we choose is based on Optum Rx research and testing, which in many cases is more stringent than is standard for the shipping industry.
For example, one common testing protocol (considered the “gold standard”) has a major gap that makes it unacceptable to us. Simply put, the time that the package sits at room temperature while waiting to be picked up by the carrier is not accounted for. Optum Rx has incorporated this “dock wait” time into all of its temperature qualification tests.
Protecting against cold
As we discussed above, protecting medications from damage by freezing can be a real challenge, especially when shipping to colder destinations. While the rest of the industry is just starting to realize how important this is, Optum Rx has already researched the problem and found a safe shipping solution. Our proprietary method for shipping refrigerated protects medications in the 32°- 0° F temperature range. It covers all but the coldest times of the year.
Protecting against heat
Optum Rx uses two profiles to protect against heat damage during shipping: Warm and Extreme Hot/120° F.
The Optum Rx Warm temperature profile is 60°–85° F. This is similar to the standard International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) profile called ISTA 7E. This temperature profile can be used in many of the northern, temperate parts of the country, especially outside the peak summer months.

Extreme Hot 120F
The ISTA 7E standards mentioned above also contain a “severe summer” standard. It covers temperatures between 79°–91° F. But our real-world data, based on tracking actual packages through the delivery system, shows that even the severe summer standard is not rigorous enough. So we based our hot delivery profile on the hottest day in a hot city such as Phoenix, Arizona, where 110°F is the average recorded temperature in July. Then, to build in an extra level of protection, we test and certify our packaging to peak temperatures of 120° F.13
Real-world testing
Our packaging is designed and tested to show that it can perform reliably under the harshest conditions – all the way from our mail service center to the member. This graph illustrates a representative test routine:
Temperature changes during typical cold chain distribution