Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets (Details Textual) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 Y	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012 Other Intangible Assets [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Other Intangible Assets [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Significant system conversions [Member] Y	Mar. 31, 2012 Capitalized Internal Use Software [Member] Y	Mar. 31, 2011 Capitalized Internal Use Software [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Hospital Operations Reporting Unit [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Home Care Agency Operations Reporting Unit [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Hospital Management Services Reporting Unit [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill	$ 4,367,841,000	$ 4,264,845,000						$ 4,300,000,000	$ 40,500,000	$ 33,300,000
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Amortization expense			1,600,000	1,900,000		19,700,000	17,900,000
Amortization expense for remaining 2012			6,200,000			68,600,000
Amortization expense for 2013			5,400,000			85,600,000
Amortization expense for 2014			3,500,000			41,200,000
Amortization expense for 2015			3,100,000			19,100,000
Amortization expense for 2016			2,400,000			16,400,000
Amortization expense for 2017			2,200,000			12,900,000
Amortization expense thereafter			8,700,000			12,500,000
Estimated amortization period					8	3
Expected residual value			0			0
Goodwill and Other Intangibles Assets (Textual) [Abstract]
Gross, intangible asset subject to amortization	62,600,000	60,000,000
Net, intangible asset subject to amortization	31,500,000	30,600,000
Net, intangible asset not subject to amortization	47,300,000	46,900,000
Weighted-average amortization	8
Gross carrying amount of capitalized software	486,300,000	451,000,000
Net carrying amount considering accumulated amortization	256,300,000	241,300,000
Capitalized costs for internal-use software in development stage	$ 152,800,000