When you hear about Medicare, you probably think of the federal program that helps pay for older adults’ health care. What you may not realize is that another of Medicare’s major responsibilities is to inspect health care facilities to make sure that patients receive safe and high-quality care.

Among those facilities are the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes.

Nursing facilities wanting to get reimbursed for treating Medicare patients must be certified as meeting certain health and safety requirements. The federal agency that oversees Medicare – the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...