Earnings per share - Reconciliations of Numerators and Denominators Used to Calculate Basic and Diluted Earnings Per Share (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Net income from continuing operations	$ 120,254	$ 191,015
Net income (loss) from discontinued operations	29,035	(12,329)
Net income attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 149,289	$ 178,686
Basic:
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period	166,388,000	181,152,000
Weighted average contingently returnable shares held in escrow from the DaVita HealthCare Partners merger (in shares)	0	(2,194,000)
Weighted average shares for basic earnings per share calculation (in shares)	166,387,958	178,957,865
Basic net income from continuing operations per share	$ 0.72	$ 1.07
Basic net income (loss) from discontinued operations per share	0.18	(0.07)
Basic net (loss) income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (usd per share)	$ 0.90	$ 1.00
Diluted:
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period	166,388,000	181,152,000
Assumed incremental shares from stock plans (in shares)	393,000	683,000
Weighted average shares for diluted earnings per share calculation (in shares)	166,780,657	181,834,547
Diluted net income from continuing operations per share	$ 0.72	$ 1.05
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation, Net of Tax, Per Diluted Share	0.18	(0.07)
Diluted net (loss) income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (usd per share)	$ 0.90	$ 0.98
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share, Amount	6,150,000	3,453,000