Long-Term Debt - Term Loans (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Term Loan A Term Loan B \| Minimum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Maturity date ranges	1 month
Term Loan A Term Loan B \| Maximum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Maturity date ranges	12 months
Term Loan A
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, annual principal payment	$ 87,500,000
Term Loan A \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, variable interest rate margin	2.00%
Term Loan B
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, annual principal payment	$ 35,000,000
Term Loan B \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, variable interest rate margin	2.75%
Term Loan B \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) \| Minimum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, variable interest rate margin	0.75%
Term Loan B \| London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) \| Maximum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, variable interest rate margin	3.50%
Interest rate cap agreements 1 \| Term Loan B \| Maximum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument Interest rate	3.50%
Interest rate agreements, notional amount	$ 3,500,000,000
Remaining outstanding debt	$ 652,500,000
Interest rate cap agreements
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Derivative, effective date	Jun. 29, 2018

The interest rate on the LIBOR component of the Company's capped term loan debt

No definition available.

Name:	dva_DebtInstrumentInterestLondonInterbankOfferedRateRate
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of the total principal payments made during the annual reporting period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(22))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAnnualPrincipalPayment
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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_DebtInstrumentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period of time between issuance and maturity of debt instrument, in PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentTerm
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of debtor-in-possession borrowings outstanding.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtorInPossessionFinancingBorrowingsOutstanding
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Nominal or face amount used to calculate payments on the derivative asset.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 815
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1A
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64837297&loc=SL5579245-113959

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Notional Amount
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6519104

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 815
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1B
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64837297&loc=SL5580258-113959

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeAssetNotionalAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Date the entity entered into the derivative contract, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInceptionDates
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=dva_TermLoanFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=dva_TermLoanAMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=us-gaap_LondonInterbankOfferedRateLIBORMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=dva_TermLoanBMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInstrumentRiskAxis=dva_InterestRateCapOneMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInstrumentRiskAxis=us-gaap_InterestRateCapMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: