Earnings Per Share - Reconciliations of Numerators and Denominators Used to Calculate Basic and Diluted Net Income Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2017	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Numerators:
Net income from continuing operations	$ 160,332	$ 73,371	$ 199,603	$ 191,015	$ 156,210	$ 152,870	$ 151,292	$ 440,905	$ 624,321	$ 901,277	$ 1,032,373
Net loss from discontinued operations attributable to DaVita Inc.	(310,104)	(210,167)	67,673	(12,329)	147,186	(367,346)	(24,291)	6,792	(464,927)	(237,659)	(152,499)
Net (loss) income attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ (149,772)	$ (136,796)	$ 267,276	$ 178,686	$ 303,396	$ (214,476)	$ 127,001	$ 447,697	$ 159,394	$ 663,618	$ 879,874
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period (in shares)									171,886,000	190,820,000	203,835,000
Contingently returnable shares held in escrow for the DaVita HealthCare Partners merger (in shares)									(1,100,000)	(2,194,000)	(2,194,000)
Weighted average shares for basic earnings per share calculation (in shares)									170,785,999	188,625,559	201,641,173
Basic net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	$ 0.97	$ 0.44	$ 1.16	$ 1.07	$ 0.86	$ 0.81	$ 0.79	$ 2.29	$ 3.66	$ 4.78	$ 5.12
Basic net loss from discontinued operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	(1.87)	(1.26)	0.40	(0.07)	0.80	(1.95)	(0.13)	0.04	(2.73)	(1.26)	(0.76)
Basic net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	(0.90)	(0.82)	1.56	1.00	1.66	(1.14)	0.66	2.33	$ 0.93	$ 3.52	$ 4.36
Diluted:
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period (in shares)									171,886,000	190,820,000	203,835,000
Assumed incremental shares from stock plans (in shares)									479,000	529,000	1,070,000
Weighted average shares for diluted earnings per share calculation (in shares)									172,364,581	191,348,533	204,904,656
Diluted net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	0.96	0.44	1.15	1.05	0.85	0.80	0.78	2.26	$ 3.62	$ 4.71	$ 5.04
Diluted net loss from discontinued operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	(1.86)	(1.26)	0.38	(0.07)	0.79	(1.92)	(0.13)	0.03	(2.70)	(1.24)	(0.75)
Diluted net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	$ (0.90)	$ (0.82)	$ 1.53	$ 0.98	$ 1.64	$ (1.12)	$ 0.65	$ 2.29	$ 0.92	$ 3.47	$ 4.29
Anti-dilutive stock-settled awards excluded from calculation (in shares)									5,295,000	4,350,000	2,523,000