Employee Benefit Plans (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011 Hospital	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Employee Benefit Plans (Textual)
Available-for-sale securities	$ 31,582,000	$ 31,570,000
Employee Benefit Plans (Additional Textual)
Total expense Community Health System plans	101,700,000	95,800,000	69,500,000
Liability under deferred compensation plans	71,400,000	73,200,000
Asset in non-qualified plan trust	72,500,000	75,000,000
Trading securities	30,486,000	35,092,000
Company owned life insurance contracts	42,000,000	39,900,000
Expected company contribution to Pension Plan in next year	2,700,000
Investment pattern of mutual funds, Equity securities	60.00%
Investment pattern of mutual funds, Debt	40.00%
Number of hospitals covering non contributory pension plan employees	3
Rabbi Trust [Member]
Employee Benefit Plans (Textual)
Available-for-sale securities	$ 31,600,000	$ 31,600,000
Maximum [Member]
Employee Benefit Plans (Textual)
Expected return on equity securities	7.00%
Expected return on debt securities	3.00%
Expected premium over benchmark indices	0.00%
Minimum [Member]
Employee Benefit Plans (Textual)
Expected return on equity securities	11.00%
Expected return on debt securities	6.00%
Expected premium over benchmark indices	1.50%

Deferred compensation arrangement with individual recorded assets.

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Expected premium over benchmark indices.

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Number of hospitals covering non contributory pension plan employees.

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For an unclassified balance sheet, this item represents investments in debt and equity securities which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading.

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The carrying amount of the liability as of the balance sheet date to an individual under a deferred compensation arrangement. This amount may be the result of periodic accruals made over the period of active employment, or reflect termination benefits resulting contractual terms or a death benefit.

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The employer's best estimate, as soon as it can be reasonably determined, of contributions expected to be paid to the plan during the next fiscal year beginning after the date of the latest statement of financial position. Estimated contributions may be presented in the aggregate combining (1) contributions required by funding regulations or laws, (2) discretionary contributions, and (3) noncash contributions.

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Target allocation percentage of investments in debt securities to total plan assets presented on a weighted-average basis as of the measurement date of the latest statement of financial position.

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Target allocation percentage of investments in equity securities to total plan assets presented on a weighted-average basis as of the measurement date of the latest statement of financial position.

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The amount of the cost recognized during the period for defined contribution plans.

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This item represents the amount that could be realized under a life insurance contract or contracts owned by the Entity as of the date of the statement of financial position. Such Entity-owned life insurance policies are commonly known as corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) or bank-owned life insurance (BOLI).

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The total of financial instruments that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term (thus held for only a short period of time) or for debt and equity securities formerly categorized as available-for-sale or held-to-maturity which the entity held as of the date it opted to account for such securities at fair value. An enterprise may also categorize such a security as trading without the intent to sell it in the near term assuming the decision to categorize the security as trading occurred at acquisition.

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