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Description of Business | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Description of Business. |
Description of Business |
Note 1—Description of Business Ventas, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated or except where the context otherwise requires, "we," "us" or "our") is a real estate investment trust ("REIT") with a geographically diverse portfolio of seniors housing and healthcare properties throughout the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2011, we owned 1,378 properties assets located in 46 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces, consisting of: 678 seniors housing communities; 396 skilled nursing facilities; 47 hospitals; 249 MOBs; and eight personal care facilities. We also were in the process of developing three properties as of December 31, 2011. We are headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and have been a constituent member of the S&P 500® Index, a leading indicator of the large cap U.S. equities market, since March 2009. Our primary business focuses on acquiring and owning seniors housing and healthcare properties and leasing those properties to unaffiliated tenants or operating those properties through independent third party managers. Through our Lillibridge Healthcare Services, Inc. ("Lillibridge") subsidiary and our ownership interest in PMB Real Estate Services LLC ("PMBRES"), which we acquired in July 2011 in connection with our acquisition of Nationwide Health Properties, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "NHP"), we also provide MOB management, leasing, marketing, facility development and advisory services to highly rated hospitals and health systems throughout the United States. In addition, from time to time, we make mortgage loan and other investments relating to seniors housing and healthcare companies or properties. As of December 31, 2011, we leased 929 properties (excluding MOBs) to healthcare operating companies under "triple-net" or "absolute-net" leases that obligate the tenants to pay all property-related expenses, including maintenance, utilities, repairs, taxes, insurance and capital expenditures, and we engaged independent third parties, such as Atria Senior Living, Inc. ("Atria") and Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "Sunrise"), to manage 200 seniors housing communities pursuant to long-term management agreements. Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "Kindred") and Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "Brookdale Senior Living") leased 198 and 167 of our properties (excluding properties included in investments in unconsolidated entities), respectively, as of December 31, 2011.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings). + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Publisher AICPA -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 10 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6927468&loc=d3e6003-108592 + Details
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