2.2.0.7 false Description of Business 0201 - Disclosure - Description of Business true false false false 1 USD false false USD Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 USDEPS Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 Shares Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 $ 2 Description of Business [Abstract] 0 vtr_DescriptionOfBusinessAbstract vtr false na duration Description of Business. false false false false false true false false false false false false 1 false false false false 0 0 false false false xbrli:stringItemType string Description of Business. false 3 DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS 1 us-gaap_NatureOfOperations us-gaap true na duration No definition available. false false false false false false false false false false false verboselabel false 1 false false false false 0 0   <div align="left" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin-left: 0in; ">   <div align="left"> </div> <div align="center" style="font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt"><b></b> </div> <div align="left" style="font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 10pt"><b>NOTE 1 — DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS</b> </div> <div align="left" style="font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 10pt; text-indent: 4%">Ventas, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated or except where the context otherwise requires, “we,” “us” or “our”) is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with a geographically diverse portfolio of seniors housing and healthcare properties in the United States and Canada. As of June 30, 2010, this portfolio consisted of 503 assets: 242 seniors housing communities, 187 skilled nursing facilities, 40 hospitals and 34 medical office buildings (“MOBs”) and other properties in 43 states and two Canadian provinces. With the exception of our seniors housing communities that are managed by independent third parties, such as Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, “Sunrise”), pursuant to long-term management agreements and the majority of our MOBs, we lease our properties to healthcare operating companies under “triple-net” or “absolute-net” leases, which require the tenants to pay all property-related expenses. We also had real estate loan investments relating to seniors housing and healthcare companies or properties as of June 30, 2010. </div> <div align="left" style="font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 10pt; text-indent: 4%">We conduct substantially all of our business through our wholly owned subsidiaries, Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership (“Ventas Realty”), PSLT OP, L.P. and Ventas SSL, Inc. Our primary business consists of acquiring, financing and owning seniors housing and healthcare properties and leasing those properties to third parties or operating those properties through independent third party managers. </div> </div>  <!-- Begin Block Tagged Note false false false us-types:textBlockItemType textblock Describes the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings). Disclosures about the nature of operations need not be quantified; relative importance could be conveyed by use of terms such as "predominately", "about equally", or "major and other". This element is also referred to as "Business Description". Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 10 false 1 2 false UnKnown UnKnown UnKnown false true