Real Estate (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended			2 Months Ended						0 Months Ended		11 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 properties	Dec. 31, 2010 properties	Dec. 31, 2009	Jan. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011 National HealthCare Corporation [Member] properties years	Dec. 31, 2010 National HealthCare Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 National HealthCare Corporation [Member]	Jun. 30, 2010 Legend Healthcare [Member]	Feb. 28, 2011 Current Tenant of 2 MOB's [Member]	Aug. 31, 2011 ALF in Daytona [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Final determination based on prior year revenues [Member] National HealthCare Corporation [Member]		Dec. 31, 2010 Final determination based on prior year revenues [Member] National HealthCare Corporation [Member]		Dec. 31, 2009 Final determination based on prior year revenues [Member] National HealthCare Corporation [Member]		May 31, 2011 Acquisition Selah Management Group [Member] years properties	Dec. 31, 2010 Acquisition Senior Living Management [Member] years properties	Sep. 30, 2011 Acquisition Senior Living Management [Member] properties years	Sep. 30, 2011 Acquisition Polaris Hospital Company [Member] years	Dec. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member] properties years	Oct. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member] Land [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member] Building and Building Improvements [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member] Contingent Payment [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Acquisition Legend Healthcare [Member] Business Combination [Member] properties	Feb. 01, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] properties	Oct. 02, 2009 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member]	Dec. 31, 2014 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] years	Sep. 30, 2011 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member]	Feb. 01, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] Cash on hand [Member]	Feb. 01, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] Advances from revolving credit facility [Member]	Feb. 01, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] Land [Member]	Feb. 01, 2010 Acquisition Care Foundation of America [Member] Building and Building Improvements [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Acquisition Helix Healthcare [Member] years	Mar. 31, 2010 Acquisition Helix Healthcare [Member] Amount Paid [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Acquisition Helix Healthcare [Member] Contingent Payment [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Acquisition Suite Living Senior Specialty Services[Member] properties years	Jun. 30, 2010 Acquisition Bickford Senior Living [Member] years properties	Dec. 31, 2011 Acquisition Bickford Senior Living [Member] properties	Oct. 31, 2009 Acquisition Bickford Senior Living [Member]	Jan. 31, 2011 Disposal [Member]	Nov. 30, 2008 Disposal [Member] properties	Dec. 31, 2004 Disposal [Member]	Jun. 30, 2010 Disposal [Member] Legend Healthcare [Member] properties	Feb. 28, 2011 Disposal [Member] Current Tenant of 2 MOB's [Member] properties	Dec. 31, 2010 Disposal [Member] Current Tenant of 2 MOB's [Member] properties	Aug. 31, 2011 Disposal [Member] ALF in Daytona [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Assets Held-for-sale [Member] properties	Dec. 31, 2009 Assets Held-for-sale [Member] properties	Jun. 30, 2010 Indiana [Member] Acquisition Bickford Senior Living [Member] properties	Jun. 30, 2010 Iowa [Member] Acquisition Bickford Senior Living [Member] properties
Number of Real Estate Properties	97	88			41												4	3				4				3	6												4	3	8			1	2	2	2	2		5	6	1	2
Land	$ 49,114,000	$ 42,493,000
Buildings, improvements & construction in progress	492,379,000	420,704,000
Less accumulated depreciation	(146,698,000)	(135,543,000)
Lease expiration date																														2014
Number of additional lease renewal options					3
Term of the lease renewal option period in years					5																									3
Rental income	76,050,000	71,289,000	53,648,000		35,996,000	35,212,000	34,782,000														644,000								5,907,000
Percentage rent					2,296,000	1,511,000	1,082,000				635,000	[1]	485,000	[1]	541,000	[1]
Percent of rental income recognized from tenants					47.00%	49.00%	65.00%
Base rent revenue					33,700,000
Significant acquisitions and disposals, acquisition costs or sale proceeds								6,247,000									15,000,000	10,150,000	5,400,000			55,278,000			5,478,000											12,500,000	11,500,000	1,000,000	21,400,000	11,500,000		28,250,000	4,500,000				5,271,000
Purchase Price of Business Acquisition																											67,000,000
Other Noncash Consideration of business acquisition																											23,300,000
Cash Paid of business acquisition																																29,700,000	14,000,000
Purchase Price Allocation, Tangible Assets																							2,694,000	36,836,000										4,690,000	62,310,000
Transaction Costs related to business acquisition																													490,000
Amount of Letter of Credit Required For Contingent Payment																																				1,000,000
Number of Units in Real Estate Property																	183	108	60																				126	102									60
Average age of facilities																	13	10				2
Age of Facilities Years Range Begin																																							2
Age of Facilities Years Range End																																							6
Year Built																			1998
Number of facilities built in 1998																																								2
Number of facilities built in 2005																																								1
Number of years in initial lease term																	15	15	9	15		15														15			15	15
Initial lease amount																		1,015,000										6,200,000								1,500,000			2,140,000	1,035,000
Initial lease rate																	8.50%		8.50%	10.00%		9.00%
Lease Escalator Rate																															3.00%
Assets held for sale, net	29,381,000	36,853,000																																														3,433,000
Carrying value of assets sold				4,038,000																																													2,152,000
Significant development and lease transactions																				21,500,000																													3,200,000
Number of beds in real estate property																				60		498					780									66
Square Footage of Real Estate Property																											228,600
Land and pre-construction costs	4,983,000																			4,983,000
Business Combination, Consideration Transferred																						39,530,000
Asset Purchase Portion Of Significant Acquisition																						15,748,000
Gain loss on sale of properties net of applicable income Taxes	$ 3,348,000	$ 2,004,000						$ 2,004,000	$ 1,838,000	$ 1,048,000

[1] For purposes of the percentage rent calculation described in the master lease agreement, NHC's annual revenue by facility for a given year is certified to NHI by March 31st of the following year.