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, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Basic:
Net income attributable to DaVita Inc.		$ 447,697	$ 97,434
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period		194,571,000	206,561,000
Contingently returnable shares held in escrow for the DaVita HealthCare Partners merger (in shares)		(2,194,000)	(2,194,000)
Weighted average shares for basic earnings per share calculation (in shares)		192,376,735	204,366,869
Basic net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (usd per share)		$ 2.33	$ 0.48
Diluted:
Net income attributable to DaVita Inc.		$ 447,697	$ 97,434
Weighted average shares outstanding during the period		194,571,000	206,561,000
Assumed incremental shares from stock plans (in shares)		710,000	1,367,000
Weighted average shares for diluted earnings per share calculation (in shares)		195,281,014	207,928,096
Diluted net income per share attributable to DaVita Inc. (usd per share)		$ 2.29	$ 0.47
Anti-dilutive potential common shares excluded from calculation (in shares)	[1]	3,427,000	2,273,000

[1] Shares associated with stock-settled stock appreciation rights that are excluded from the diluted denominator calculation because they are anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method.