Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2020	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2020	Jun. 30, 2019
Income Statement [Abstract]
Patient service operating revenues	$ 205,148	$ 213,252	$ 398,330	$ 405,014
Revenue, Product and Service [Extensible List]	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember
Operating expenses:
Patient care costs	$ 146,882	$ 153,016	$ 301,104	$ 301,197
Cost, Product and Service [Extensible List]	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember	us-gaap:HealthCarePatientServiceMember
General and administrative	$ 22,665	$ 23,927	$ 47,570	$ 49,526
Depreciation, amortization and impairment	8,974	10,299	17,501	20,365
Certain legal and other matters (Note 15)	841	8,381	3,128	13,672
Total operating expenses	179,362	195,623	369,303	384,760
Operating income	25,786	17,629	29,027	20,254
Other income - CARES Act	1,474	0	1,474	0
Interest expense, net	(9,721)	(11,541)	(20,733)	(20,291)
Change in fair value of income tax receivable agreement	(356)	(304)	1,343	1,378
Income before income taxes	17,183	5,784	11,111	1,341
Income tax expense (benefit)	2,349	644	(1,395)	1,346
Net income (loss)	14,834	5,140	12,506	(5)
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(14,039)	(13,318)	(18,945)	(18,652)
Net income (loss) attributable to American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc.	795	(8,178)	(6,439)	(18,657)
Less: Change in the difference between the redemption value and estimated fair value for accounting purposes of the related noncontrolling interests	(444)	1,025	(703)	284
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders	$ 351	$ (7,153)	$ (7,142)	$ (18,373)
Earnings (loss) per share (Note 12):
Basic (in USD per share)	$ 0.01	$ (0.22)	$ (0.22)	$ (0.57)
Diluted (in USD per share)	$ 0.01	$ (0.22)	$ (0.22)	$ (0.57)
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding
Basic (in shares)	32,862,637	32,275,807	32,661,238	32,232,004
Diluted (in shares)	34,612,591	32,275,807	32,661,238	32,232,004