Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Narrative) (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) item entity	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Jan. 01, 2019 USD ($)
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries | entity	2
Accounts payable	$ 51,101,000	$ 50,150,000
Lease right of use assets	111,652,000
Lease liabilities	$ 125,936,000
Weighted average rate	3.30%
Number of cloud computing arrangements | item	2
Advertising expense in continuing operations	$ 49,500,000	47,000,000.0	$ 40,900,000
Adjustments to casualty and workers compensation accrual, net pretax debits/(credits)	$ (1,664,000)	$ (3,437,000)	(1,800,000)
Historical claims data, period of time	10 years
Net tax benefit			$ (8,305,000)
The Act 2017 To 2022 [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Bonus depreciation on personal tangible property expenditures, percentage	100.00%
The Act 2023 To 2026 [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Bonus depreciation on personal tangible property expenditures, percentage	100.00%
Total Assets [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	5.00%
Total Current Liabilities [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	5.00%
Total Liabilities [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	5.00%
Roto Rooter And Corporate Office [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Exposure on single claim	$ 750,000
Roto-Rooter [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of operating segments | item	1
Percent of population serviced	90.00%
Roto-Rooter [Member] | Sales Revenue [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	34.00%	33.00%	31.00%
VITAS [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of service providers | item	1
Exposure on single claim	$ 1,000,000
Professional liability and other risks, insurance deductible	$ 750,000
VITAS [Member] | Sales Revenue [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	66.00%	67.00%	69.00%
Medicare [Member] | Accounts Receivable [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	71.00%	68.00%
Medicaid [Member] | Accounts Receivable [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	24.00%	26.00%
Medicare And Medicaid [Member] | Accounts Receivable [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Concentration risk, percentage	75.00%
ASU 2016-02 [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Lease right of use assets				$ 93,100,000
Lease liabilities				$ 104,300,000
Weighted average rate				3.47%
Cloud Computing [Member] | ASU No. 2018-15 [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Capitalized contract cost	$ 5,700,000
Capitalized contract cost, amortization expense	$ 0