Medical beneficiaries across the services will soon all be filling out the same survey to note how satisfied they were with their care, according to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

The Joint Outpatient Experience Survey (JOES) is replacing separate outpatient surveys formerly used by the services, allowing for a standardized customer service questionnaire to better evaluate patient satisfaction across all three military branches, LRMC said in a news release.

The rollout of the new survey began in April, replacing the Navy Patient Satisfaction Survey, according to the Defense Health Agency, and will be implemented at military medical facilities worldwide.

The new survey also will avoid duplication: in areas such as the Kaiserslautern Military Community where a patient can be seen by Air Force and Army doctors for the same problem, the patient would receive only one survey, according to Stacy Sanning-Rzepka at LRMC.

The surveys will continue to be a funding source for military medical facilities, Sanning-Rzepka, said. Surveys that showed patient satisfaction netted LRMC cash from the Army — up to $500 for a perfect survey. That resulted in an extra $1.7 million for LRMC and its beneficiaries since March 2015, she said. If all the surveys had been returned, that amount could have exceeded $4.4 million. The program is designed to provide incentives for military hospitals to meet a variety of standards and to reward those that do.

With the new joint survey, the Defense Health Agency will be the funding source rewarding facilities whose surveys show patient satisfaction, rather than the individual services, Sanning-Rzepka said.

The surveys have also proved to be a useful tool in improving health care, LRMC officials said, such as providing Wi-Fi in waiting rooms, new equipment to reduce waiting times for mammography testing and a la carte dining options for patients.

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