Commitments and Contingencies (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended																		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 property	Dec. 31, 2010 property	Dec. 31, 2011 SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2010 SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing property	Dec. 31, 2010 Skilled Nursing property	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing Texas payment property	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Texas Unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Texas Unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Other Senior Housing property	Dec. 31, 2010 Other Senior Housing property	Dec. 31, 2011 Other Senior Housing SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Other Senior Housing SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Assisted Living Unit property	Dec. 31, 2009 Assisted Living Unit property	Dec. 31, 2011 Capital improvement commitment expiring 8/1/2012 Skilled Nursing property	Jan. 31, 2012 Capital improvement commitment expiring 8/31/2012 Other Senior Housing Subsequent capital expenditures property	Dec. 31, 2011 Capital improvement commitment expiring 8/31/2013 Other Senior Housing property	Dec. 31, 2011 Capital improvement commitment expiring 10/11/2013 Skilled Nursing	Dec. 31, 2011 Capital improvement commitment expiring 10/11/2013 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Capital improvement commitment expiring 12/31/2014 Assisted Living D Y property	Dec. 31, 2014 Capital improvement commitment expiring 12/31/2014 Assisted Living	Dec. 31, 2013 Capital improvement commitment expiring 12/31/2014 Assisted Living	Dec. 31, 2012 Capital improvement commitment expiring 12/31/2014 Assisted Living	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan commitment expiring 3/31/2012 Other Senior Housing property	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan commitment expiring 12/31/2012 Other Senior Housing property	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan commitment expiring 12/31/2012 Senior Housing
Commitments and Contingencies
Number of Properties	9	10			7	5	4					2	1			4	3
Number of beds/units acquired			1,134	805				1,016	668	524	166			118	137	241	192					120
Number of earn-out payments							2
Contingent earn-out payment, maximum							$ 11,000,000
Earn-out liabilities, amount recorded at date of acquisition							9,841,000
Non-cash interest expense							464,000
First contingent earn-out payment, amount							4,000,000
Earn-out liabilities	6,305,000						6,305,000
Commitment	14,080,000																	100,000	730,000	730,000	8,250,000		5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000			2,500,000
Used Commitment	724,000																			674,000	50,000								232,000
Open Commitment	13,356,000																	100,000		56,000	8,200,000		5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000	5,000,000
Estimated yield (as a percent)																			9.00%	9.00%	9.00%								8.50%
Subsequent capital improvement expenditures																			56,000
Commitment	2,550,000																										50,000	2,500,000
Used Commitment	252,000																										20,000	232,000
Open Commitment	$ 2,298,000																										$ 30,000	$ 2,268,000
Estimated yield (as a percent)																											10.00%	8.50%
Properties																		1	2	2			37				1	2
Reference rate for estimated yield (as a percent)																							9.50%
Maturity period of US Treasury note (in years)																							10
Number of days prior to funding (in days)																							5
Basis points added/deducted from the base rate (as a percent)																							0.42%