Accounts Receivable - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Increase (decrease) in allowance for doubtful accounts	$ (12,088)	$ 21,470
Minimum
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Accounts receivable collection period	1 month
Maximum
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Accounts receivable collection period	3 months
U.S. Dialysis And Related Lab Services
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of outstanding patient accounts receivables to be reserved as per Company's policy	100.00%
Accounts Receivable Period Outstanding	3 months
DaVita Medical Group (DMG)
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of outstanding patient accounts receivables to be reserved as per Company's policy	100.00%
Accounts Receivable Period Outstanding	12 months
Health Care Patient and Other Services \| Accounts Receivable
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of net accounts receivable	81.00%	81.00%
Capitated Health Plans \| Accounts Receivable
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of net accounts receivable	19.00%	19.00%
Health Care Patient Services \| Accounts Receivable
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Net accounts receivable, percentage of balances more than six months old	16.00%	18.00%
Percentage of accounts receivable due	1.00%
Government-based Programs, Medicare and Medicaid \| Accounts Receivable
Accounts Notes And Loans Receivable [Line Items]
Percentage of accounts receivable due	80.00%

Accounts receivable collection period.

No definition available.

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

- Definition

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

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Percentage of Accounts Receivable , 6 months or More Past Due

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Percentage of net accounts receivable.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- 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_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MinimumMember
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:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=dva_USDialysisAndRelatedLabServicesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=dva_DaVitaMedicalGroupMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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

- Details

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

- Details

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