Long-Term Debt (Schedule of Early Redemption Prices on Junior-Priority Secured Notes due 2023) (Details) - Junior-Priority Secured Notes due 2023 [Member] - Junior-Priority Secured Notes [Member]	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Debt Instrument, Redemption, Period Three [Member]
Debt Instrument, Redemption [Line Items]
Debt Instrument Redemption Price Percentage	107.406%
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, Start Date	Jun. 30, 2020
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, End Date	Jun. 29, 2021
Debt Instrument, Redemption, Period Four [Member]
Debt Instrument, Redemption [Line Items]
Debt Instrument Redemption Price Percentage	103.703%
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, Start Date	Jun. 30, 2021
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, End Date	Jun. 29, 2022
Debt Instrument, Redemption, Period Five [Member]
Debt Instrument, Redemption [Line Items]
Debt Instrument Redemption Price Percentage	100.00%
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, Start Date	Jun. 30, 2022
Debt Instrument, Redemption Period, End Date	Jun. 29, 2023

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.

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

End date of debt instrument redemption period, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 470
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph e
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=75038535&loc=d3e64711-112823

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodEndDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Start date of debt instrument redemption period, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodStartDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage price of original principal amount of debt at which debt can be redeemed by the issuer.

+ References

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodAxis=us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodThreeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=cyh_JuniorPrioritySecuredNotesDue2023Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=cyh_JuniorPrioritySecuredNotesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodAxis=us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodFourMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodAxis=us-gaap_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPeriodFiveMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: