Accounts Receivable - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Thousands	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of outstanding patient accounts receivables to be reserved as per Company's policy	100.00%
Account receivable outstanding, number of months	3 months
Increase in allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 15,285
Government-based Programs, Medicare and Medicaid \| Accounts Receivable
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of accounts receivable due	80.00%
Health Care Patient \| Accounts Receivable \| Maximum
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of accounts receivable due	1.00%

Patient accounts receivable months outstanding to be reserved per company policy.

No definition available.

Name:	dva_AccountsReceivablePeriodOutstanding
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of outstanding patient accounts receivables to be reserved when patient pay amounts due are outstanding for more than four months, as per the Company's policy.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	dva_PercentageOfOutstandingPatientAccountsReceivables
Namespace Prefix:	dva_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- 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

Name:	us-gaap_AccountsNotesAndLoansReceivableLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in the allowance for doubtful accounts.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AllowanceForDoubtfulAccountsReceivablePeriodIncreaseDecrease
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 18
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64851502&loc=d3e6351-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73719730&loc=d3e13531-108611

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64851502&loc=d3e6404-108592

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 21
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73719730&loc=d3e13537-108611

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskByTypeAxis=us-gaap_GovernmentContractsConcentrationRiskMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskByBenchmarkAxis=us-gaap_AccountsReceivableMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskByTypeAxis=dva_PatientCustomerConcentrationRiskMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: