Case Study: State of Rhode Island modernizes COVID-19 response with IBM Consulting and IBM watsonx Assistant

State of Rhode Island - Customer Case Study

The State of Rhode Island faced a major public health challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, with paper-based workflows, limited electronic systems, and overwhelmed staff making it difficult to manage case investigations, contact tracing, and resident support. IBM Instana, through IBM Consulting and IBM watsonx Assistant, helped the state modernize its response infrastructure and improve how it handled testing, inquiries, and public health operations.

IBM Instana worked with Rhode Island to stand up a K–12 testing call center and specialty contact tracing team in just two weeks, launch the RHODA virtual assistant, and automate and streamline case management using Salesforce, IBM Garage methodologies, and watsonx Assistant. The results included a fivefold increase in case investigation throughput, response to about 80% of positive cases within 24 hours, more than 100,000 RHODA conversations, and an NPS increase to 8, showing a faster, more scalable, and more effective public health response.

State of Rhode Island

Kristine Campagna

Chief Operating Officer