Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Nov. 15, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Letters Of Credit And Surety Bonds	Dec. 31, 2012 Revenue Cycle Data Processing Services	Dec. 31, 2012 Electronic Health Records Application	Dec. 31, 2012 Estimated Minimum Liabilities For Physician Commitments	Dec. 31, 2012 Professional And General Liability	Dec. 31, 2012 Professional And General Liability Psi Subsidiaries	Dec. 31, 2011 Professional And General Liability Psi Subsidiaries	Dec. 31, 2010 Professional And General Liability Psi Subsidiaries	Dec. 31, 2012 Self Insurance Programs Letters Of Credit And Surety Bonds	Dec. 31, 2012 Other Debt Guarantees Letters Of Credit And Surety Bonds	Dec. 31, 2012 Earthquake	Dec. 31, 2012 United States Earthquake	Dec. 31, 2012 Puerto Rico	Nov. 15, 2010 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Wind Storms	Sep. 30, 2012 Minimum Location 2	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum United States Earthquake	Nov. 15, 2010 Maximum	Sep. 30, 2012 Maximum Wind Storms	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Location 2 Flood	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Location 1 Flood	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum United States Earthquake	Jan. 01, 2008 Subsidiaries Minimum	Nov. 15, 2010 Subsidiaries Maximum	Nov. 15, 2010 Psychiatric Solutions Inc	Dec. 31, 2012 Psychiatric Solutions Inc Minimum	Nov. 14, 2010 Psychiatric Solutions Inc Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Psychiatric Solutions Inc Maximum
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Self-insured for professional and general liability	$ 279,000,000	$ 292,000,000																			$ 10,000,000					$ 10,000,000			$ 3,000,000	$ 3,000,000	$ 75,000,000
Purchased several excess policies through commercial insurance carriers per occurrence																											200,000,000	200,000,000
Percentage of liability for claims paid under commercially insured coverage			10.00%
Liability for claims paid under commercially insured coverage																	10,000,000				60,000,000
The amount of commercial insurance aggregate coverage								20,000,000
Commercial insurance coverage catastrophic loss deductible per occurrence	10,000,000
Self-insured for professional and general liability, current	48,000,000	60,000,000
Reduction in professional and general liability self-insurance reserves relating to prior years									27,000,000	11,000,000	49,000,000
Weighting given to company-specific metrics										75.00%	50.00%
General industry metrics										25.00%	50.00%
Compensation liability claims	66,000,000	65,000,000
Compensation and related benefits	35,000,000	34,000,000
Reduction to reserve for work compensation claim	4,000,000
Commercial property insurance policies covering catastrophic losses														250,000,000	100,000,000	25,000,000						1,000,000,000
Minimum Insurance Deductible																			250,000
Percentage of insurance deductible																		3.00%		1.00%		5.00%			5.00%
Maximum insurance deductible																							500,000	250,000
Combined estimated future purchase obligations	290,000,000				106,000,000	181,000,000	3,000,000
Combined estimated future payments related to non contributory	225,000,000
Defined benefit pension plan estimated payments through 2088	208,000,000
Other retirement plan liabilities	17,000,000
Off-balance sheet contingent obligation				$ 80,000,000								$ 66,000,000	$ 14,000,000