Segment Data (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Apr. 03, 2015 segment	Mar. 31, 2014
Segment Data
Number of divisions	2afam_NumberOfDivisions
Number of reportable segments	2us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Segment data
Net service revenues	$ 128,399us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet	$ 120,339us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet
Operating income before corporate expenses	15,276	11,388
Operating loss before noncontrolling interest	7,011	1,971
Deal transition and other	408	3,115
Operating income	7,371us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	2,318us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Interest expense, net	(360)	(347)
Income tax expense	(2,987)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	(817)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Net income from continuing operations	4,024	1,154
Home Health Care division
Segment data
Net service revenues	128,297	120,032
Corporate expenses.
Segment data
Corporate expenses	6,980	5,700
Visiting Nurse \| Reportable segments
Segment data
Net service revenues	99,536	93,172
Operating income before corporate expenses	12,416	8,749
Personal Care \| Reportable segments
Segment data
Net service revenues	28,761	26,860
Operating income before corporate expenses	2,860	2,639
Healthcare Innovations \| Reportable segments
Segment data
Net service revenues	102	307
Operating loss before noncontrolling interest	$ (517)	$ (255)
Medicare program \| Visiting Nurse
Segment data
Segment revenues (as a percent)	96.00%
Medicaid and other government programs \| Personal Care
Segment data
Segment revenues (as a percent)	84.00%

Represents the amount of deal and transition costs incurred in the reporting period.

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Represents the amount of corporate expenses incurred during the reporting period.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Represents the number of divisions.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Represents the net result for the period of deducting operating expenses but before deducting corporate expenses from operating revenues.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Represents the percentage of net service revenue to total net revenue from rendering of services as of year end for a reportable segment.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Sum of operating profit and nonoperating income or expense before Income or Loss from equity method investments, income taxes, extraordinary items, and noncontrolling interest.

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- Definition

This element represents the income or loss from continuing operations attributable to the economic entity which may also be defined as revenue less expenses and taxes from ongoing operations before extraordinary items, and noncontrolling interest.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

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- Definition

Amount of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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- Definition

The net amount of nonoperating interest income (expense).

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

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- Definition

The net result for the period of deducting operating expenses from operating revenues.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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- Definition

Aggregate revenue during the period from services rendered in the normal course of business, after deducting allowances and discounts.

+ References

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

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