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, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Numerators:
Net income attributable to DaVita Inc.	$ 162,122	$ 237,403
Weighted average shares outstanding during period	96,342	109,014
Assumed incremental from stock plans	4,161	4,838
Weighted average shares for diluted earnings per share calculation	100,503	113,852
Basic net income	$ 1.68	$ 2.18
Diluted net income	$ 1.61	$ 2.09
Anti-dilutive stock-settled awards excluded from calculation	171	27