Exhibit 99.1


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                 May 7, 2002
                                                 For more information contact:
                                                 Ray Braun (419) 247-2800
                                                 Mike Crabtree (419) 247-2800



                        HEALTH CARE REIT, INC. ANNOUNCES
                  OFFERING OF 3,000,000 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK

Toledo, Ohio, May 7, 2002..... HEALTH CARE REIT, INC. (NYSE/HCN) announced that
it has commenced a public offering of 3,000,000 shares of common stock.

The underwriters for the offering are Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., UBS
Warburg, Legg Mason Wood Walker Incorporated and Raymond James.

The net proceeds of the offering will be used to repay borrowings under the
company's revolving line of credit arrangements and to invest in additional
health care properties.

Health Care REIT, Inc., with headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is a real estate
investment trust that invests in health care facilities, primarily skilled
nursing and assisted living facilities. At March 31, 2002, the company had
investments in 226 health care facilities in 34 states and had total assets of
approximately $1.4 billion. For more information on Health Care REIT, Inc., via
facsimile at no cost, dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter the company code - HCN. More
information is available on the Internet at http://www.hcreit.com.

This document may contain "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements
concern the possible expansion of our portfolio; the performance of our
operators and properties; our ability to obtain new viable tenants for
properties which we take back from financially troubled tenants, if any; our
ability to make distributions; our policies and plans regarding investments,
financings and other matters; our tax status as a real estate investment trust;
our ability to appropriately balance the use of debt and equity; and our ability
to access capital markets or other sources of funds. When we use words such as
"believes," "expects," "anticipates," or similar expressions, we are making
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expected results may
not be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from our expectations.
This may be a result of various factors, including: the status of the economy;
the status of capital markets, including prevailing interest rates; compliance
with and changes to regulations and payment policies within the health care
industry; changes in financing terms; competition within the health care and
senior housing industries; and changes in federal, state and local legislation.
Finally, we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those
projected in any forward-looking statements.

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