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, 2020	Sep. 30, 2020	Jun. 30, 2020	Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Numerators:
Net income from continuing operations	$ 193,406	$ 158,674	$ 201,602	$ 229,613	$ 242,242	$ 150,113	$ 194,223	$ 120,254	$ 783,295	$ 706,832	$ 624,321
Discontinued operations	(19,633)	0	0	9,980	2,629	(6,843)	79,328	29,035	(9,653)	104,149	(464,927)
Net income attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 173,773	$ 158,674	$ 201,602	$ 239,593	$ 244,871	$ 143,270	$ 273,551	$ 149,289	$ 773,642	$ 810,981	$ 159,394
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding Reconciliation [Abstract]
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period (in shares)									119,797,000	153,181,000	171,886,000
Weighted average contingently returnable shares (in shares)									0	0	(1,100,000)
Weighted average shares - basic (in shares)									119,797,000	153,181,000	170,786,000
Weighted average contingently returnable shares attributable to dilutive effect (shares)									0	0	1,100,000
Assumed incremental shares from stock plans (in shares)									2,826,000	631,000	479,000
Weighted average shares - diluted (in shares)									122,623,000	153,812,000	172,365,000
Basic net income (loss) attributable to DaVita Inc.:
Income (Loss) from Continuing Operations, Per Basic Share	$ 1.73	$ 1.31	$ 1.65	$ 1.84	$ 1.87	$ 1.00	$ 1.17	$ 0.72	$ 6.54	$ 4.61	$ 3.66
Basic net loss from discontinued operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	(0.17)	0	0	0.08	0.02	(0.05)	0.47	0.18	(0.08)	0.68	(2.73)
Basic net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	1.56	1.31	1.65	1.92	1.89	0.95	1.64	0.90	6.46	5.29	0.93
Diluted net income (loss) attributable to DaVita Inc.:
Diluted net income from continuing operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	1.67	1.28	1.62	1.81	1.86	0.99	1.16	0.72	6.39	4.60	3.62
Diluted net loss from discontinued operations per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	(0.17)	0	0	0.08	0.02	(0.04)	0.48	0.18	(0.08)	0.67	(2.70)
Diluted net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (in usd per share)	$ 1.50	$ 1.28	$ 1.62	$ 1.89	$ 1.88	$ 0.95	$ 1.64	$ 0.90	$ 6.31	$ 5.27	$ 0.92
Anti-dilutive stock-settled awards excluded from calculation (in shares)									2,301,000	5,936,000	5,295,000