Recent Accounting Pronouncements Recent Accounting Pronouncements	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Recent Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]
New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block]	RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS In May 2014 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. ASU 2014-09 provides a principles-based approach for a broad range of revenue generating transactions, including the sale of real estate, which will generally require more estimates, judgment and disclosures than under current guidance. The Company adopted this standard using the modified retrospective method on January 1, 2018. The ASU provides for revenues from leases to continue to follow the guidance in Topics 840 and 842 (when adopted) and provides for loans to follow established guidance in Topic 310. Because this ASU specifically excludes these areas of our operations from its scope, there was no impact to our accounting for lease revenue and interest income resulting from the ASU. Additionally, the other significant types of contracts in which we periodically engage, sales of real estate to customers, typically never remain executory across points in time, so that nuances related to the timing of revenue recognition as mandated under Topic 606 are not expected to impact our results of operations or financial position. Because all performance obligations from these contracts can therefore be expected to continue to fall within a single period, the timing of our revenue recognition from future sales of real estate is not expected to be affected by the ASU. A number of practical expedients are available in applying the recognition and measurement principles within the standard, including those permitting the aggregation of contract revenues and costs with components of interest income or amortization expense whose period of aggregation, within parameters, is not considered to be of significant duration for separate treatment. We realized no significant revenues in 2018 within the scope of ASU 2014-09, and, accordingly, adoption of the ASU did not have a material impact on the timing and measurement of the Company’s revenues. In February 2016 the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which has been codified under ASC Topic 842. In July and December 2018 the FASB updated the pending Topic 842 with ASU 2018-11, Leases – Targeted Improvements, and ASU 2018-20, Narrow-Scope Improvements for Lessors, respectively. ASU 2018-11 provides a new transition method under which we will apply the new leases standard as of the application date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment, as appropriate, to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Consequently, our reporting for the comparative periods presented in the financial statements in which we adopt the new leases standard will continue to be in accordance with current GAAP (Topic 840, Leases). ASU 2018-20 was issued to address implementation issues related to Topic 842. We adopted Topic 842 on January 1, 2019 (the “application date”), and, effective with our adoption, we elected the package of practical expedients allowing, among other provisions, for transition with no reassessment of the lease classification for any expired or existing leases. No cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings was necessary, based on our analysis. The Narrow-Scope Improvements for Lessors under ASU 2018-20 requires NHI to exclude from variable payments, and therefore revenue, our costs paid by our tenants directly to third parties. Some of our leases require property tax and insurance costs be covered by our tenants through escrow reimbursement. We serve as the administrative agent for these escrow transactions and ASU 2018-20 requires the implied revenue and expense impact of these transactions, $4,159,000 for the year ended December 31, 2018, be included in our consolidated financial statements. The principal difference between Topic 842 and previous guidance is that, for lessees, lease assets and lease liabilities arising from operating leases will be recognized in the balance sheet. While the accounting applied by a lessor is largely unchanged from that applied under previous GAAP, changes have been made to align i) certain lessor and lessee accounting guidance, and ii) key aspects of the lessor accounting model with the revenue recognition guidance in Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which we adopted January 1, 2018. Under Topic 842 and unlike prior GAAP, a buyer-lessor in a sale-leaseback transaction will be required to apply the sale and leaseback guidance to determine whether the transaction qualifies as a sale. Topic 842 includes provisions which generally conform with Topic 606, and the presence of a seller-lessee repurchase option on real estate in a sale and leaseback transaction will result in recording the transaction as a financing that would otherwise meet the lease accounting requirements for buyer-lessors under previous guidance. Going forward under Topic 842, for us as lessor, existing sale-leaseback or other leases that undergo modifications may trigger reconsideration of continued accounting for the lease. Because NHI has ceased inclusion of purchase options in new sale-leaseback transactions, we expect no material effects from the change in sale-leaseback guidance as it relates to repurchase options.. In April 2018, we entered into a ground lease as lessee in connection with our acquisition of certain real estate assets. In accordance with transition elections allowed under Topic 842, discussed above, we have continued to account for the lease as an operating lease. Upon adoption of the standard, as lessee we recognized a right-of-use asset and a lease liability at the application date. No cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings was required to effect a net balance sheet adjustment resulting in an additional operating lease liability and right-of-use asset approximating $1,176,000, as a result of our adoption of Topic 842. Consistent with present standards, upon the adoption of Topic 842, NHI will continue to account for lease revenue on a straight-line basis for most leases. Under Topic 842 only initial direct costs that are incremental to the lessor are capitalized, a standard consistent with NHI’s current practice. Under provisions of ASU 2018-20, discussed above, we will continue to exclude from variable payments lessor costs paid by our lessees directly to third parties, as consistent with our current practice. In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses. ASU 2016-13 will require more timely recognition of credit losses associated with financial assets. While current GAAP includes multiple credit impairment objectives for instruments, the previous objectives generally delayed recognition of the full amount of credit losses until the loss was probable of occurring. The amendments in ASU 2016-13, whose scope is asset-based and not restricted to financial institutions, eliminate the probable initial recognition threshold in current GAAP and, instead, reflect an entity’s current estimate of all expected credit losses. Currently, when credit losses were measured under GAAP, we generally only considered past events and current conditions in measuring the incurred loss. The amendments in ASU 2016-13 broaden the information that we must consider in developing our expected credit loss estimate for assets measured either collectively or individually. The use of forecasted information incorporates more timely information in the estimate of expected credit loss that will be more useful to users of the financial statements. ASU 2016-13 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. ASU 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses, aligns the transition requirements and clarifies that operating lease receivables are excluded from the scope of ASU 2016-13. Instead, impairment of operating lease receivables is to be accounted for under ASC 842. Because we are likely to continue to invest in loans and generate receivables, adoption of ASU 2016-13 and the clarifying ASU 2018-19 in 2020 will have some effect on our accounting for our loan investments, though the nature of those effects will depend on the composition of our loan portfolio at that time; accordingly, we are in the initial stages of evaluating the extent of the effects, if any, that adopting the provisions of ASU 2016-13 in 2020 will have on NHI. In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, Restricted Cash. ASU 2016-18 requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents, generally by requiring the inclusion of restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The amendments in this ASU do not provide a definition of restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. ASU 2016-18 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods. ASU 2016-18 improves financial reporting by conforming diverse practice to a single standard. In the fourth quarter of 2018 we reclassified amounts previously included among other assets and described as “reserves for replacement, insurance and tax escrows” as “restricted cash.” The adoption of ASU 2016-18, effective January 1, 2018, had no effect on net income or retained earnings and had no effect on other line items in our consolidated balance sheets or statements of income. In August 2017 the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging: Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, which is available for early adoption in any interim period after issuance of the update, or alternatively requires adoption for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The purpose of this updated guidance is to better align a company’s financial reporting for hedging activities with the economic objectives of those activities. On January 1, 2018, we adopted ASU 2017-12, among whose provisions is a change in the timing and income statement line item for ineffectiveness related to cash flow hedges. The transition method is a modified retrospective approach that requires the Company to recognize the cumulative effect of initially applying the ASU as an adjustment to accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) with a corresponding adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the fiscal year that we adopt the update. The primary provision in the ASU requiring an adjustment to our beginning consolidated retained earnings in 2018 is the change in timing and income statement line item for ineffectiveness related to cash flow hedges. In applying the transition guidance provided in the ASU, as of January 1, 2018, cumulative ineffectiveness of $235,000 as adjusted for any prior off-market cashflow hedges was reclassified out of beginning retained earnings and into accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

In May 2014 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. ASU 2014-09 provides a principles-based approach for a broad range of revenue generating transactions, including the sale of real estate, which will generally require more estimates, judgment and disclosures than under current guidance.

The Company adopted this standard using the modified retrospective method on January 1, 2018. The ASU provides for revenues from leases to continue to follow the guidance in Topics 840 and 842 (when adopted) and provides for loans to follow established guidance in Topic 310. Because this ASU specifically excludes these areas of our operations from its scope, there was no impact to our accounting for lease revenue and interest income resulting from the ASU. Additionally, the other significant types of contracts in which we periodically engage, sales of real estate to customers, typically never remain executory across points in time, so that nuances related to the timing of revenue recognition as mandated under Topic 606 are not expected to impact our results of operations or financial position. Because all performance obligations from these contracts can therefore be expected to continue to fall within a single period, the timing of our revenue recognition from future sales of real estate is not expected to be affected by the ASU. A number of practical expedients are available in applying the recognition and measurement principles within the standard, including those permitting the aggregation of contract revenues and costs with components of interest income or amortization expense whose period of aggregation, within parameters, is not considered to be of significant duration for separate treatment. We realized no significant revenues in 2018 within the scope of ASU 2014-09, and, accordingly, adoption of the ASU did not have a material impact on the timing and measurement of the Company’s revenues.

In February 2016 the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which has been codified under ASC Topic 842. In July and December 2018 the FASB updated the pending Topic 842 with ASU 2018-11, Leases – Targeted Improvements, and ASU 2018-20, Narrow-Scope Improvements for Lessors, respectively. ASU 2018-11 provides a new transition method under which we will apply the new leases standard as of the application date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment, as appropriate, to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Consequently, our reporting for the comparative periods presented in the financial statements in which we adopt the new leases standard will continue to be in accordance with current GAAP (Topic 840, Leases).

ASU 2018-20 was issued to address implementation issues related to Topic 842. We adopted Topic 842 on January 1, 2019 (the “application date”), and, effective with our adoption, we elected the package of practical expedients allowing, among other provisions, for transition with no reassessment of the lease classification for any expired or existing leases. No cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings was necessary, based on our analysis. The Narrow-Scope Improvements for Lessors under ASU 2018-20 requires NHI to exclude from variable payments, and therefore revenue, our costs paid by our tenants directly to third parties. Some of our leases require property tax and insurance costs be covered by our tenants through escrow reimbursement. We serve as the administrative agent for these escrow transactions and ASU 2018-20 requires the implied revenue and expense impact of these transactions, $4,159,000 for the year ended December 31, 2018, be included in our consolidated financial statements.

The principal difference between Topic 842 and previous guidance is that, for lessees, lease assets and lease liabilities arising from operating leases will be recognized in the balance sheet. While the accounting applied by a lessor is largely unchanged from that applied under previous GAAP, changes have been made to align i) certain lessor and lessee accounting guidance, and ii) key aspects of the lessor accounting model with the revenue recognition guidance in Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which we adopted January 1, 2018. Under Topic 842 and unlike prior GAAP, a buyer-lessor in a sale-leaseback transaction will be required to apply the sale and leaseback guidance to determine whether the transaction qualifies as a sale. Topic 842 includes provisions which generally conform with Topic 606, and the presence of a seller-lessee repurchase option on real estate in a sale and leaseback transaction will result in recording the transaction as a financing that would otherwise meet the lease accounting requirements for buyer-lessors under previous guidance. Going forward under Topic 842, for us as lessor, existing sale-leaseback or other leases that undergo modifications may trigger reconsideration of continued accounting for the lease.

Because NHI has ceased inclusion of purchase options in new sale-leaseback transactions, we expect no material effects from the change in sale-leaseback guidance as it relates to repurchase options..

In April 2018, we entered into a ground lease as lessee in connection with our acquisition of certain real estate assets. In accordance with transition elections allowed under Topic 842, discussed above, we have continued to account for the lease as an operating lease. Upon adoption of the standard, as lessee we recognized a right-of-use asset and a lease liability at the application date. No cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings was required to effect a net balance sheet adjustment resulting in an additional operating lease liability and right-of-use asset approximating $1,176,000, as a result of our adoption of Topic 842.

Consistent with present standards, upon the adoption of Topic 842, NHI will continue to account for lease revenue on a straight-line basis for most leases. Under Topic 842 only initial direct costs that are incremental to the lessor are capitalized, a standard consistent with NHI’s current practice. Under provisions of ASU 2018-20, discussed above, we will continue to exclude from variable payments lessor costs paid by our lessees directly to third parties, as consistent with our current practice.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses. ASU 2016-13 will require more timely recognition of credit losses associated with financial assets. While current GAAP includes multiple credit impairment objectives for instruments, the previous objectives generally delayed recognition of the full amount of credit losses until the loss was probable of occurring. The amendments in ASU 2016-13, whose scope is asset-based and not restricted to financial institutions, eliminate the probable initial recognition threshold in current GAAP and, instead, reflect an entity’s current estimate of all expected credit losses. Currently, when credit losses were measured under GAAP, we generally only considered past events and current conditions in measuring the incurred loss. The amendments in ASU 2016-13 broaden the information that we must consider in developing our expected credit loss estimate for assets measured either collectively or individually. The use of forecasted information incorporates more timely information in the estimate of expected credit loss that will be more useful to users of the financial statements. ASU 2016-13 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. ASU 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses, aligns the transition requirements and clarifies that operating lease receivables are excluded from the scope of ASU 2016-13. Instead, impairment of operating lease receivables is to be accounted for under ASC 842. Because we are likely to continue to invest in loans and generate receivables, adoption of ASU 2016-13 and the clarifying ASU 2018-19 in 2020 will have some effect on our accounting for our loan investments, though the nature of those effects will depend on the composition of our loan portfolio at that time; accordingly, we are in the initial stages of evaluating the extent of the effects, if any, that adopting the provisions of ASU 2016-13 in 2020 will have on NHI.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, Restricted Cash. ASU 2016-18 requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents, generally by requiring the inclusion of restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The amendments in this ASU do not provide a definition of restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. ASU 2016-18 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods. ASU 2016-18 improves financial reporting by conforming diverse practice to a single standard. In the fourth quarter of 2018 we reclassified amounts previously included among other assets and described as “reserves for replacement, insurance and tax escrows” as “restricted cash.” The adoption of ASU 2016-18, effective January 1, 2018, had no effect on net income or retained earnings and had no effect on other line items in our consolidated balance sheets or statements of income.

In August 2017 the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging: Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, which is available for early adoption in any interim period after issuance of the update, or alternatively requires adoption for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The purpose of this updated guidance is to better align a company’s financial reporting for hedging activities with the economic objectives of those activities. On January 1, 2018, we adopted ASU 2017-12, among whose provisions is a change in the timing and income statement line item for ineffectiveness related to cash flow hedges. The transition method is a modified retrospective approach that requires the Company to recognize the cumulative effect of initially applying the ASU as an adjustment to accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) with a corresponding adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the fiscal year that we adopt the update. The primary provision in the ASU requiring an adjustment to our beginning consolidated retained earnings in 2018 is the change in timing and income statement line item for ineffectiveness related to cash flow hedges. In applying the transition guidance provided in the ASU, as of January 1, 2018, cumulative ineffectiveness of $235,000 as adjusted for any prior off-market cashflow hedges was reclassified out of beginning retained earnings and into accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).