Significant Accounting Policies (Details)	Mar. 31, 2020 properties
Variable Interest Entity Number Of Entities Not Primary Beneficiary	7
Lessor, Operating Lease, Renewal Term	5 years
Minimum [Member]
Lessor, Operating Lease, Term of Contract	10 years
Maximum [Member]
Lessor, Operating Lease, Term of Contract	15 years

Number of Variable Interest Entities (VIE) or potential VIEs for which it is determined that the reporting entity is not the primary beneficiary.

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	nhi_VariableInterestEntityNumberOfEntitiesNotPrimaryBeneficiary
Namespace Prefix:	nhi_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease renewal, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=119202524&loc=SL77919359-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseRenewalTerm
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseTermOfContract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: