Real Estate (Schedule of Real Estate Properties) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Dec. 31, 2011 properties	Dec. 31, 2010 properties
Number of Real Estate Properties	97	88
Land	$ 49,114	$ 42,493
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	492,379	420,704
Less accumulated depreciation	(146,698)	(135,543)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	55	51
Land	18,601	14,107
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	303,467	252,686
Less accumulated depreciation	(99,434)	(92,399)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Alabama [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	2	2
Land	95	95
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	5,164	5,165
Less accumulated depreciation	(3,663)	(3,584)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Arizona [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	453	453
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	6,678	6,678
Less accumulated depreciation	(2,738)	(2,571)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Florida [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	10	10
Land	6,996	6,996
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	99,746	99,747
Less accumulated depreciation	(27,781)	(25,230)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Georgia [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	52	52
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	865	865
Less accumulated depreciation	(865)	(865)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Idaho [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	122	122
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	2,491	2,491
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,032)	(966)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Kentucky [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	2	2
Land	231	231
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	2,182	2,182
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,785)	(1,714)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Missouri [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	5	5
Land	1,165	1,165
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	23,068	23,070
Less accumulated depreciation	(16,078)	(15,377)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | South Carolina [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4	4
Land	872	872
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	15,241	15,241
Less accumulated depreciation	(9,192)	(8,818)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Tennessee [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	20	20
Land	1,835	1,835
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	41,297	41,297
Less accumulated depreciation	(30,172)	(29,143)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Texas [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	8	4
Land	6,604	2,110
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	104,224	53,440
Less accumulated depreciation	(4,364)	(2,438)
Skilled Nursing Facility [Member] | Virginia [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	176	176
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	2,511	2,510
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,764)	(1,693)
Assisted Living Facility [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	33	29
Land	24,188	22,061
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	142,084	126,174
Less accumulated depreciation	(28,344)	(25,418)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Arizona [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4	4
Land	1,757	1,757
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	13,947	13,622
Less accumulated depreciation	(4,416)	(4,057)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Florida [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	6	7
Land	7,557	7,877
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	28,352	31,019
Less accumulated depreciation	(10,914)	(10,901)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Georgia [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1
Land	572
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	4,849
Less accumulated depreciation	(45)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Illinois [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	403	403
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	4,532	4,532
Less accumulated depreciation	(256)	(133)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Indiana [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	546	546
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	4,583	4,583
Less accumulated depreciation	(184)	(61)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Iowa [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	2	2
Land	430	430
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	5,940	5,940
Less accumulated depreciation	(257)	(86)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Louisiana [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4
Land	1,875
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	13,125
Less accumulated depreciation	(278)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Michigan [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4	4
Land	1,490	1,490
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	21,825	21,825
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,248)	(649)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Minnesota [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4	4
Land	3,675	3,675
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	17,725	17,725
Less accumulated depreciation	(973)	(437)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | New Jersey [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	4,229	4,229
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	13,030	13,030
Less accumulated depreciation	(5,933)	(5,614)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Pennsylvania [Member}
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	439	439
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	3,960	3,960
Less accumulated depreciation	(627)	(528)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | South Carolina [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	344	344
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	2,971	2,877
Less accumulated depreciation	(937)	(860)
Assisted Living Facility [Member] | Tennessee [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	3	3
Land	871	871
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	7,245	7,061
Less accumulated depreciation	(2,276)	(2,092)
Medical Office Building [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	2	2
Land	796	796
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	9,691	9,690
Less accumulated depreciation	(5,823)	(5,576)
Medical Office Building [Member] | Florida [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	165	165
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	3,349	3,349
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,984)	(1,907)
Medical Office Building [Member] | Texas [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	631	631
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	6,342	6,341
Less accumulated depreciation	(3,839)	(3,669)
Independent Living Facility [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	4	4
Land	651	651
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	13,007	13,007
Less accumulated depreciation	(7,160)	(6,833)
Independent Living Facility [Member] | Idaho [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	243	243
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	4,182	4,182
Less accumulated depreciation	(1,709)	(1,598)
Independent Living Facility [Member] | Missouri [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	344	344
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	3,181	3,181
Less accumulated depreciation	(2,119)	(2,052)
Independent Living Facility [Member] | Tennessee [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	2	2
Land	64	64
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	5,644	5,644
Less accumulated depreciation	(3,332)	(3,183)
Hospitals [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	3	2
Land	4,720	4,720
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	23,466	18,483
Less accumulated depreciation	(5,841)	(5,252)
Hospitals [Member] | California [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	4,180	4,180
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	8,320	8,320
Less accumulated depreciation	(562)	(255)
Hospitals [Member] | Kentucky [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1	1
Land	540	540
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	10,163	10,163
Less accumulated depreciation	(5,279)	(4,997)
Hospitals [Member] | Tennessee [Member]
Number of Real Estate Properties	1
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	4,983
Total continuing operations properties [Member]
Land	48,956	42,335
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	491,715	420,040
Less accumulated depreciation	(146,602)	(135,478)
Corporate Assets [Member]
Land	158	158
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	664	664
Less accumulated depreciation	$ (96)	$ (65)