Dispositions and Acquisitions - Additional Information (Detail)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) Facility Bed
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition, cash paid	$ 0	$ 108,000,000
Located in U.K.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Aggregate cash proceeds from divestiture of businesses		$ 14,000,000
Number of beds \| Bed		18
Danshell Group [Member] \| Located in U.K.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of behavioral health care facilities \| Facility		25
Gulfport Behavioral Health System \| Located in Gulfport
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of beds \| Bed		109
Behavioral Health Care Facility
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Aggregate cash proceeds from divestiture of businesses	$ 7,000,000

Number of beds available in acquired hospital in business acquisition.

No definition available.

Name:	uhs_NumberOfBedsAvailableInAcquiredHospitalInBusinessAcquisition
Namespace Prefix:	uhs_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of beds available in divested hospital in business divestitures.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	uhs_NumberOfBedsAvailableInDivestedHospitalInBusinessDivestitures
Namespace Prefix:	uhs_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of behavioral health care facilities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	uhs_NumberOfBehavioralHealthCareFacilities
Namespace Prefix:	uhs_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- 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.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of business during the period. The cash portion only of the acquisition price.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 13
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=d3e3213-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PaymentsToAcquireBusinessesGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents the cash inflow during the period from the sale of a component of the entity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 12
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118932676&loc=d3e3179-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinessesNetOfCashDivested
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=country_GB
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=uhs_DanshellGroupMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=uhs_GulfportBehavioralHealthSystemMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=country_MX
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_OwnershipAxis=uhs_BehavioralHealthFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: