DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Nov. 01, 2012
Entity Registrant Name	AMERICAN SHARED HOSPITAL SERVICES
Entity Central Index Key	0000744825
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Smaller Reporting Company
Trading Symbol	ams
Entity Common Stock Shares Outstanding		4,605,870
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012