Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions - Changes in Goodwill (Detail) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	$ 700,193,000	$ 717,099,000
Foreign exchange and other	(2,028,000)	(5,208,000)
Goodwill impairment	(26,225,000)	(11,698,000)	$ 0
Ending balance	671,940,000	700,193,000	717,099,000
BioReference
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Ending balance	434,800,000
Pharmaceutical | CURNA
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	4,827,000	4,827,000
Foreign exchange and other	0	0
Goodwill impairment	(4,827,000)	0
Ending balance	0	4,827,000	4,827,000
Pharmaceutical | Rayaldee
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	87,314,000	91,295,000
Foreign exchange and other	(1,709,000)	(3,981,000)
Goodwill impairment	0	0
Ending balance	85,605,000	87,314,000	91,295,000
Pharmaceutical | FineTech
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	0	11,698,000
Foreign exchange and other	0	0
Goodwill impairment	0	(11,698,000)
Ending balance	0	0	11,698,000
Pharmaceutical | OPKO Biologics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	139,784,000	139,784,000
Foreign exchange and other	0	0
Goodwill impairment		0
Ending balance	139,784,000	139,784,000	139,784,000
Pharmaceutical | OPKO Chile
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	4,614,000	5,203,000
Foreign exchange and other	(266,000)	(589,000)
Goodwill impairment		0
Ending balance	4,348,000	4,614,000	5,203,000
Pharmaceutical | OPKO Health Europe
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	7,546,000	7,898,000
Foreign exchange and other	(152,000)	(352,000)
Goodwill impairment		0
Ending balance	7,394,000	7,546,000	7,898,000
Pharmaceutical | Transition Therapeutics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	3,322,000	3,608,000
Foreign exchange and other	99,000	(286,000)
Goodwill impairment	(3,421,000)	0
Ending balance	0	3,322,000	3,608,000
Diagnostics | BioReference
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	434,809,000	434,809,000
Foreign exchange and other	0	0
Goodwill impairment	0	0
Ending balance	434,809,000	434,809,000	434,809,000
Diagnostics | OPKO Diagnostics
Goodwill [Roll Forward]
Beginning balance	17,977,000	17,977,000
Foreign exchange and other	0	0
Goodwill impairment	(17,977,000)	0
Ending balance	$ 0	$ 17,977,000	$ 17,977,000