Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income [Abstract]
Operating revenues (net of contractual allowances and discounts)	$ 5,754	$ 5,646
Provision for bad debts	755	735
Net operating revenues	4,999	4,911
Operating costs and expenses:
Salaries and benefits	2,317	2,257
Supplies	799	762
Other operating expenses	1,173	1,099
Government settlement and related costs		8
Electronic health records incentive reimbursement	(18)	(26)
Rent	119	116
Depreciation and amortization	298	296
Impairment of long-lived assets	17
Total operating costs and expenses	4,705	4,512
Income from operations	294	399
Interest expense, net	251	241
Loss from early extinguishment of debt		8
Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates	(20)	(18)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	63	168
Provision for income taxes	26	56
Income from continuing operations	37	112
Discontinued operations, net of taxes:
Loss from operations of entities sold or held for sale		(11)
Impairment of hospitals sold or held for sale	(1)	(1)
Loss on sale, net		(1)
Loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes	(1)	(13)
Net income	36	99
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	25	20
Net income attributable to Community Health Systems, Inc. stockholders	$ 11	$ 79
Basic earnings (loss) per share attributable to Community Health Systems, Inc. common stockholders:
Continuing operations	$ 0.11	$ 0.80
Discontinued operations	(0.01)	(0.11)
Net income	0.10	0.69
Diluted earnings (loss) per share attributable to Community Health Systems, Inc. common stockholders:
Continuing operations	0.11	0.79
Discontinued operations	(0.01)	(0.11)
Net income	$ 0.10	$ 0.68
Weighted-average number of shares outstanding:
Basic	110,247,867	114,419,590
Diluted	110,309,372	115,057,668