AeroSafe Global | University of Rochester Medicine
THE PROBLEM
As the University of Rochester Medicine (UR Medicine) Pharmacy’s temperature-sensitive shipment volume expanded, internal operations hit a critical bottleneck. Existing fulfillment workflows required 20 to 30 minutes per box, while bulk ice-pack conditioning consumed valuable freezer footprint. Facing tight 2- to 4-day fulfillment windows across expanding regional networks, UR Medicine needed a turnkey, scalable operating model that could eliminate thermal excursion risks, reduce potential human errors, and increase throughput.
“Our legacy packout process was built for lower volumes and could not scale to meet growth, consumingcritical staff time and warehouse space that we didn’t have.”
Katy Lees, Pharmacy Director
UR Medicine
THE ACTION
To ensure uncompromised cold chain integrity and operational scalability, UR Medicine integrated AeroSafe Global’s Cold Chain on Demand™ (CCoD) service. This managed solution transferred packaging preparation, pre-conditioning and inventory management to AeroSafe Global, freeing UR Medicine’s pharmacy team to focus on order verification and patient management.
Key operational pillars of the deployment include:
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Streamlined Fulfillment: Replaced manual box assembly and freezer storage with pre-conditioned, on-demand packaging, reducing packout workflows from 30 minutes down to under 10 minutes per shipment.
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High-Performance Thermal Protection: Transitioned from basic kits and ice packs to advanced thermal packaging with Phase Change Material (PCM) engineered to maintain 2°C–8°C for over 90 hours. Real-time visibility of on-time and at-temp deliveries ensures URAC cold-chain audit compliance.
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Dedicated On-Demand Operational Support: Leveraged dedicated AeroSafe support team to manage dynamic weekly fulfillment needs, deploying a flexible model that effortlessly adapts to fluctuating shipment volumes, box sizes and temperature requirements.
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Scalable Infrastructure Alignment: Standardized packaging solutions with modular components across UR Medicine’s huband-spoke delivery model to support rapid regional growth.
“Partnering with AeroSafe Global and adopting CCoD allowed our pharmacy staff to remove the complexity of cold chain packaginglogistics and focus entirely on the secure transport of medications, ensuring product integrity and minimizing associated risks”
Katy Lees, Pharmacy Director
UR Medicine
PROVEN RESULTS
“We simply couldn’t have scaled our business at this speed without AeroSafe Global’s CCOD service. Implementing their solution unlocked a 238% increase in our annual shipping capacity, giving us the operational foundation we needed to more than triple our output.”
Katy Lees, Pharmacy Director
UR Medicine
THE IMPACT
Deploying CCoD transformed UR Medicine’s cold chain operations from a labor-intensive constraint into a high-throughput, risk-free delivery engine.
Health System & Operational Gains
- 70% Reduction in Packout Duration: Assembly times dropped from 20–30 minutes down to 5–10 minutes per box unit, drastically boosting daily order capacity.
- Eliminated On-Site Inventory Burden: Replaced bulk freezer storage and 16-ice-pack packouts with pre-conditioned PCM units delivered as needed, alleviating the need for extensive on-site storage space for alternative supplies.
- Zero Thermal Excursions: Achieved a 100% on-time, at temperature delivery rate across all shipments.
- 3.4x Capacity Expansion: Unlocked a 238% increase in annual shipping output without expanding pharmacy headcount, enabling seamless hub-and-spoke regional growth.
Clinical & Patient Outcomes
- Guaranteed Medication Integrity: Specialty therapies are delivered on time and at temperature to their intended destination, ensuring their integrity for patient care and uninterrupted treatment.
- Enhanced Pharmacy Trust: Transparent tracking gives health system care teams total confidence in therapy continuity.
"We recently ran into a very high-pressure situation involving packages worth over half a million dollars. The stakes were high, and the challenges just kept coming. The AeroSafe Global team stepped in and absolutely owned it. They were relentless in tracking the critical packages, kept us looped in at every turn, and made sure nothing fell through the cracks. Their attention to detail, calm under pressure, and commitment to getting it done is truly impressive."
Pharmacy Leadership
Statewide Health System
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About University of Rochester Medicine
University ofRochester Medicineserves over 3millionpeople across a 27-county catchment area with its eight hospitals, located in the Finger Lakes Region of western NY. Its flagship hospital, Strong Memorial Hospital, is situated in Rochester, NY, and provides the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center, a dedicated children’s hospital, and other highly specialized services.
About AeroSafe Global
AeroSafe Global stands at the forefront of the industry, providing tech-driven solutions that simplify the intersection of complex logistics and pharmaceutical distribution. Through its proprietary "Cold Chain as a Service" (CCaaS) model, AeroSafe Global provides a seamless, end-to-end ecosystem that ensures the safe delivery of temperature-sensitive therapies to patients and providers worldwide. Trusted by more than 200 healthcare systems and pharmacies, AeroSafe Global’s Cold Chain on Demand™ service guarantees safety, simplifies operations, and protects the most critical shipments.
For more information visit aerosafeglobal.com
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