Segment Reporting - Textuals (Details)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018 location facilities segment state
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of operating segments \| segment	2
Number of states in which entity operates \| state	36
Inpatient Rehabilitation Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of states in which entity operates \| state	31
Number of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals operated	127
Number of hospitals or agencies operated as a joint venture	1
Number of inpatient rehabilitation units under management contracts	4
Home Health and Hospice Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of states in which entity operates \| state	28
Number of hospitals or agencies operated as a joint venture	2
Number of locations across the states \| location	236

Total number of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals owned and operated as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Number of inpatient rehabilitation units under management contracts with the Company as of the balance sheet date.

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No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ehc_NumberOfInpatientRehabilitationUnitsUnderManagementContracts
Namespace Prefix:	ehc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of home health and hospice agencies the Company owns and operates as of the balance sheet date.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ehc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of Joint Ventures Accounted for Using the Equity Method

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No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	ehc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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No definition available.

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Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of states the entity operates in as of the balance sheet date.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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