Business Combinations (Schedule Of Business Acquisitions) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill	$ 476,887	$ 472,366	$ 472,322
Roto-Rooter segment [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible assets	98		213
Goodwill	4,396		5,944
Other assets and liabilities - net	231		457
Assets total	$ 4,725		$ 6,614

Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Other Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed, Net

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of intangible assets, excluding goodwill, acquired at the acquisition date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84161108&loc=d3e4845-128472

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Amount recognized for assets, including goodwill, in excess of (less than) the aggregate liabilities assumed.

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- Definition

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
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-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
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-Section 45
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