Earnings per share Earnings per share - Reconciliation of numberators and denominators used to calculate basic and diluted earnings per share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018
Numerators:
Net income from continuing operations attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 194,223	$ 199,603	$ 314,477	$ 390,618
Change in noncontrolling interest redemption rights in excess of fair value	0	(98)	0	(98)
Net income from continuing operations for earnings per share calculation	194,223	199,505	314,477	390,520
Net income from discontinued operations attributable to DaVita Inc.	79,328	67,673	108,363	55,344
Income Loss From Continuing Operations Attributable to Parent Available To Common Stockholders Basic	$ 273,551	$ 267,178	$ 422,840	$ 445,864
Basic:
Weighted average shares outstanding during period	166,346,000	173,811,000	166,367,000	177,461,000
Weighted average contingently returnable shares held in escrow for the DaVita HealthCare Partners merger	0	(2,194,000)	0	(2,194,000)
Weighted average shares for basic earnings per share calculation	166,346,041	171,617,238	166,366,886	175,267,270
Basic net income from continuing operations per share	$ 1.17	$ 1.16	$ 1.89	$ 2.23
Basic net income (loss) from discontinued operations per share	0.47	0.40	0.65	0.31
Basic net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 1.64	$ 1.56	$ 2.54	$ 2.54
Diluted:
Weighted average shares outstanding during period	166,346,000	173,811,000	166,367,000	177,461,000
Assumed incremental shares from stock plans	454,000	295,000	423,000	489,000
Weighted average shares for diluted earnings per share calculation	166,799,525	174,105,884	166,789,978	177,949,934
Diluted net income from continuing operations per share	$ 1.16	$ 1.15	$ 1.89	$ 2.19
Diluted net income from discontinued operations per share	0.48	0.38	0.65	0.32
Diluted net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 1.64	$ 1.53	$ 2.54	$ 2.51
Anti-dilutive stock-settled awards excluded from calculation	5,797,000	6,227,000	5,974,000	4,840,000