Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions - Changes in Goodwill (Details) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	$ 717,099
Foreign exchange and other	(3,470)
Ending balance	713,629
BioReference
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Ending balance	401,800
Pharmaceutical \| CURNA
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	4,827
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	4,827
Pharmaceutical \| EirGen
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	89,226
Foreign exchange and other	(2,789)
Ending balance	86,437
Pharmaceutical \| FineTech
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	11,698
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	11,698
Pharmaceutical \| OPKO Chile
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	5,203
Foreign exchange and other	(336)
Ending balance	4,867
Pharmaceutical \| OPKO Biologics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	139,784
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	139,784
Pharmaceutical \| OPKO Health Europe
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	7,898
Foreign exchange and other	(247)
Ending balance	7,651
Pharmaceutical \| OPKO Renal
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	2,069
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	2,069
Pharmaceutical \| Transition Therapeutics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	3,608
Foreign exchange and other	(98)
Ending balance	3,510
Diagnostics \| BioReference
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	401,821
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	401,821
Diagnostics \| OPKO Diagnostics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	17,977
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	17,977
Diagnostics \| OPKO Lab
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	32,988
Foreign exchange and other	0
Ending balance	$ 32,988

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77989000&loc=SL49117168-202975

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
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Amount of foreign currency translation gain (loss) which increases (decreases) an asset representing future economic benefits from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108376223&loc=d3e13816-109267

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