Real Estate Investments (Details 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended																																	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 item property unit	Dec. 31, 2011 property item	Dec. 31, 2010 property item	Feb. 28, 2013	Jan. 31, 2013	Feb. 28, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 ILF Units unit	Dec. 31, 2012 Assisted Living property item unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Assisted Living unit property	Dec. 31, 2012 Assisted Living ALF Units	Dec. 31, 2012 100-units assisted living properties ALF Units Colorado property unit	Dec. 31, 2012 166-units assisted living properties ALF Units New Jersey property unit	Dec. 31, 2012 158-units assisted living properties ALF Units property	Dec. 31, 2012 Skilled Nursing bed item property	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing property bed	Dec. 31, 2010 Skilled Nursing property bed	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing Texas property payment	Dec. 31, 2012 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds	Dec. 31, 2011 Skilled Nursing SNF Beds Texas bed	Dec. 31, 2010 90-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Virginia bed	Dec. 31, 2012 140-bed skilled nursing property Texas bed	Dec. 31, 2012 234-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Texas property bed	Dec. 31, 2012 143-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds bed property	Dec. 31, 2010 195-bed skilled nursing property Virginia bed	Dec. 31, 2011 156-bed skilled nursing property CA bed	Dec. 31, 2012 288-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Ohio property bed	Dec. 31, 2011 336-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Texas bed property	Dec. 31, 2010 458-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Texas bed property	Dec. 31, 2010 120-bed skilled nursing property SNF Beds Florida bed	Dec. 31, 2012 Range of Care item unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Range of Care property unit	Dec. 31, 2010 Range of Care unit property	Dec. 31, 2011 Range of Care South Carolina property	Dec. 31, 2011 Range of Care SNF Beds South Carolina bed	Dec. 31, 2011 Range of Care ALF Units South Carolina unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Range of Care ILF Units South Carolina unit	Dec. 31, 2012 Land item	Dec. 31, 2011 Land	Dec. 31, 2011 Land Texas	Dec. 31, 2010 Skilled nursing property associated with the range of care property bed	Dec. 31, 2012 Independent living property bed	Dec. 31, 2012 Assisted living and Memory care property item property unit	Dec. 31, 2012 Memory care property unit	Dec. 31, 2012 Memory care property 60-units memory care properties bed
Acquisitions
Purchase Price	$ 166,750,000	$ 106,135,000	$ 94,250,000							$ 81,987,000	$ 26,900,000					$ 79,100,000	$ 93,841,000	$ 54,011,000	$ 41,000,000								$ 17,500,000		$ 25,500,000				$ 11,450,000	$ 13,339,000	$ 11,450,000				$ 5,663,000	$ 844,000	$ 844,000
Transaction Costs	767,000	375,000	350,000							285,000	210,000					275,000	330,000	140,000															34,000						207,000	11,000		7,000
Total Acquisition Costs	167,517,000	106,510,000	94,600,000							82,272,000	27,110,000					79,375,000	94,171,000	54,151,000	50,841,000														11,484,000	13,339,000					5,870,000	855,000		22,000,000
Number of Properties	9	9	10							5	4		2	3	2	4	7	5	4					2	1			2	2	3			2	1	2									4
Number of beds/units acquired	788	1,227	1,139						140	266	241		100	166		522	1,016	668			524	90		234	143		156	288	336	458	120		211	230		118	40	53				90		258	60	60
Number of beds/units acquired																																											140			60
Amount invested for expansion and renovation of properties										14,600,000																																	125,000	16,385,000		9,817,000
Weighted average GAAP rent (as a percent)												8.10%								10.30%
Vacant parcels of land																																							4
Number of earn-out payments																			2
Total contingent earn-out payment, maximum																			11,000,000
First contingent earn-out payment, amount																			4,000,000
Lease inducement paid																		125,000
Acquisition proforma revenue	104,342,000	100,636,000
Acquisition proforma net income	59,100,000	58,686,000
Commitment	5,000,000							49,702,000
Initial rent rate (as a percent)	9.20%
Maturity period of US Treasury note	10 years
Variable rate basis used to compute estimated yield	10-year treasury note rate
Number of days prior to funding	5 days
Basis points added/deducted from the base rate (as a percent)	(4.20%)
Investment Commitment
Investment Commitment	77,760,000			488,000	2,484,000					40,927,000						36,094,000																739,000
2012 Funding	16,618,000	3,185,000	5,824,000							8,242,000						8,310,000																66,000
Total Funded	18,185,000					488,000	2,484,000			8,242,000						9,204,000																739,000
Remaining Commitment	59,575,000									32,685,000						26,890,000
Number of Properties	14									6						6																2												2
Number of Beds/Units	1,428									458						759																211
Acquired land	5,663,000
Capital improvement funding to existing properties	134,000					10,600,000	10,600,000
Depreciation expense on buildings and improvements	22,002,000	19,487,000	16,016,000
Future minimum base rents receivable under the remaining non-cancelable terms of operating leases excluding the effects of straight-line rent
2013	95,425,000
2014	96,222,000
2015	83,163,000
2016	82,861,000
2017	82,529,000
Thereafter	422,329,000
Number of beds or units in property sold																							140			195
Sale of property																							1,248,000			4,935,000
Gain on sale of property, net of selling expenses	16,000		310,000																				16,000			310,000
Proceeds from sale of real estate investments, net	1,271,000		4,864,000																							4,864,000
Discontinued operations
Rental income			404,000
Total revenues			404,000
Depreciation and amortization		(99,000)	(256,000)
(Loss) income from discontinued operations		$ (99,000)	$ 148,000