Reconciliation of Changes in Contingent Earn-Out Obligations (Detail) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Contingent Earn-Out Obligations [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance, January 1, 2017	$ 9,977
Contingent earn-out obligations associated with acquisitions	1,053
Remeasurement of fair value for contingent earn-out obligations	102
Payments on contingent earn-out obligations	(2,567)
Ending balance	$ 8,565

Business combination contingent consideration acquisitions earnouts payments.

No definition available.

Name:	dva_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationAcquisitionsEarnoutsPayments
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Business combination contingent consideration acquisitions, fair value remeasurement (gain) loss.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	dva_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationAcquisitionsFairValueRemeasurementGainLoss
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Contingent Earn-Out Obligations [Roll Forward]

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	dva_ContingentEarnOutObligationsRollForward
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in the value of a contingent consideration liability, including, but not limited to, differences arising upon settlement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e7008-128479

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationArrangementsChangeInAmountOfContingentConsiderationLiability1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of liability recognized arising from contingent consideration in a business combination.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 35
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911338&loc=d3e6819-128478

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 25
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911189&loc=d3e6408-128476

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationLiability
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant