2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements: The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. for interim financial information, including rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2017. The condensed consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2016 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. for complete financial statements.

For information about significant accounting policies, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, there were no material changes to these policies.

Recent Accounting Developments:

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” Under the new standard, revenue is recognized at the time a good or service is transferred to a customer for the amount of consideration received for that specific good or service. This standard is effective for us beginning January 1, 2018, and we plan to adopt under the modified retrospective approach. We do not expect this standard to have a significant impact on our financial results upon adoption, as a substantial portion of our revenue consists of rental income from leasing arrangements and interest income from loans, which are specifically excluded from ASU No. 2014-09. Under ASU No. 2014-09, we do expect more transactions to qualify as sales of real estate with gains on sales being recognized earlier than under current accounting guidance, as the new guidance is based on transfer of control versus whether or not the seller has continuing involvement. Thus, we expect to record an approximate $2 million adjustment to retained earnings upon adoption of ASU No. 2014-09 to fully recognize a gain on real estate sold in prior years that was required to be deferred under existing accounting guidance.

Clarifying the Definition of a Business

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, “Clarifying the Definition of a Business” (“ASU 2017-01”). The amendments in ASU 2017-01 provide an initial screen to determine if substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets, in which case, the transaction would be accounted for as an asset acquisition rather than as a business combination. In addition, ASU 2017-01 clarifies the requirements for a set of activities to be considered a business and narrows the definition of an output. A reporting entity must apply the amendments in ASU 2017-01 using a prospective approach. We will adopt ASU 2017-01 on January 1, 2018 for our 2018 fiscal year. Upon adoption, we expect to recognize a majority of our real estate acquisitions as asset transactions rather than business combinations, which will result in the capitalization of third party transaction costs that are directly related to an acquisition. Indirect and internal transaction costs will continue to be expensed, but we do not expect to include these costs as an adjustment in deriving normalized funds from operations in the future. We expect this change in accounting, once adopted, may decrease our normalized funds from operations by $1 million to $2 million per quarter.

Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases”, which sets out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both parties to a contract (i.e. lessees and lessors). The new standard requires lessees to apply a dual approach, classifying leases as either finance or operating leases based on the principle of whether or not the lease is effectively a financed purchase by the lessee. This classification will determine whether lease expense is recognized based on an effective interest method or on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease. A lessee is also required to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for all leases with a term of greater than 12 months regardless of their classification. Leases with a term of 12 months or less will be accounted for similar to existing guidance for operating leases today. The new standard requires lessors to account for leases using an approach that is substantially equivalent to existing guidance for sales-type leases, direct financing leases and operating leases.

We expect to adopt this new standard on January 1, 2019. We are continuing to evaluate this standard and the impact to us from both a lessor and lessee perspective. However, we do have leases in which we are the lessee, including ground leases, on which certain of our facilities reside, along with corporate office and equipment leases, that will be required to be recorded on our balance sheet upon adoption of this standard. From a lessor perspective, we do expect certain non-lease components (including property taxes, insurance and other operating expenses that the tenants of our facilities are required to pay pursuant to our “triple-net” leases) to be recorded gross versus net of the respective expenses upon adoption of this standard in 2019 in accordance with ASU No. 2014-09.

Variable Interest Entities

At September 30, 2017, we had loans to and/or equity investments in certain variable interest entities (“VIEs”), which are also tenants of our facilities. We have determined that we are not the primary beneficiary of these VIEs. The carrying value and classification of the related assets and maximum exposure to loss as a result of our involvement with these VIEs at September 30, 2017 are presented below (in thousands):


VIE Type	Maximum Loss Exposure(1)		Asset Type Classification	Carrying Amount(2)
Loans, net	$	331,857	Mortgage and other loans	$	235,287
Equity investments	$	13,242	Other assets	$	—

(1)

Our maximum loss exposure related to loans with VIEs represents our current aggregate gross carrying value of the loan plus accrued interest and any other related assets (such as rent receivables), less any liabilities. Our maximum loss exposure related to our equity investment in VIEs represents the current carrying values of such investment plus any other related assets (such as rent receivables) less any liabilities.

(2)	Carrying amount reflects the net book value of our loan or equity interest only in the VIE.

For the VIE types above, we do not consolidate the VIE because we do not have the ability to control the activities (such as the day-to-day healthcare operations of our borrower or investees) that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance. As of September 30, 2017, we were not required to provide any material financial support through a liquidity arrangement or otherwise to our unconsolidated VIEs, including circumstances in which it could be exposed to further losses (e.g., cash short falls).

Typically, our loans are collateralized by assets of the borrower (some assets of which are on the premises of facilities owned by us) and further supported by limited guarantees made by certain principals of the borrower.

See Note 3 and 7 for additional description of the nature, purpose and activities of our more significant VIEs and interests therein, such as Ernest Health, Inc. (“Ernest”).