Stockholder's Equity (Details Textual) (USD $)	Sep. 30, 2014
Stockholders' Equity (Details) [Abstract]
Transaction Costs Existing Partnership	$ 2,732,000
Noncontrolling Interest Decrease From Business Combination	20.00%
Payments To Acquire Businesses Gross 2	$ 91,000,000

Decrease in noncontrolling interest balance because of a business combination that occurred during the period.

No definition available.

Name:	hcn_Noncontrollinginterestdecreasefrombusinesscombination
Namespace Prefix:	hcn_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant