Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) shares in Millions			3 Months Ended									12 Months Ended
		Oct. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) Facility	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) Hospital Facility shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) Hospital shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) Hospital shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Establishment of partial reserve in the allowance for doubtful accounts for self-pay balances outstanding from the date of discharge, in days												90 days
Establishment of fully reserve for self-pay balances outstanding from the date of discharge, in days												90 days
Establishment of fully reserve in the allowance for doubtful accounts for third party liability accounts from the date of discharge, in days												180 days
Accounts receivable, net			$ 1,560,847,000				$ 1,509,909,000					$ 1,560,847,000	$ 1,509,909,000
Number of hospital facilities | Hospital												3
Capitalized interest												$ 3,400,000	2,300,000	$ 1,000,000.0
Depreciation expense												455,600,000	410,000,000.0	388,400,000
Impairment of goodwill or indefinite-lived intangible assets		$ 0											0	0
Impairment of other intangible assets														0
Provision for asset impairment												97,631,000	49,310,000	$ 0
Intangible assets net			$ 83,657,000				172,962,000					$ 83,657,000	$ 172,962,000
Number of inpatient facilities | Facility												4
Number of outpatient facilities | Facility												12
Behavioral health care facilities with outside owners holding non-controlling minority interest | Facility			3									3
Redeemable non-controlling interest balances			$ 4,000,000									$ 4,000,000
Non-controlling interest balances			75,000,000									$ 75,000,000
Anti-dilutive weighted average stock options excluded from computation of earnings per share | shares												5.5	7.9	6.2
Revenues			2,896,247,000	$ 2,822,453,000	$ 2,855,168,000	$ 2,804,391,000	2,754,496,000	$ 2,648,913,000	$ 2,681,353,000	$ 2,687,516,000		$ 11,378,259,000	$ 10,772,278,000	$ 10,409,865,000
Tradename
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible assets net							74,903,000						74,903,000		$ 124,000,000
Foundations
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Provision for asset impairment												98,000,000	$ 49,000,000
Impairment provision for tradename intangible asset												75,000,000
Impairment charges for real property assets												23,000,000
Commercial Insurance Subsidiary
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Statutorily required capital reserves			62,000,000									$ 62,000,000
Universal Health Realty Income Trust
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of hospital facilities | Hospital												3	3	3
Investments			6,000,000									$ 6,000,000
Premier, Inc.
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Investments			70,000,000									70,000,000
Premier, Inc. | Group Purchasing Organization Agreement | Restricted Stock
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Shares vesting period											7 years
Shares vesting period start year											2014
Shares vesting period end year											2020
Market value of retained vested shares												70,000,000	$ 56,000,000
Unrealized gain												14,000,000
Additional vested shares, value												10,000,000	10,000,000
Acute Care Hospital Services
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues												6,164,560,000	5,719,905,000	$ 5,484,683,000
Behavioral Health Services
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues	[1]											5,210,063,000	5,038,874,000	4,906,719,000
State Medicaid programs
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenue offset amount												194,000,000	179,000,000	171,000,000
Net aggregate benefit												225,000,000	208,000,000	186,000,000
Net revenues												78,000,000	64,000,000	$ 55,000,000
Illinois
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Accounts receivable, net			36,000,000				32,000,000					36,000,000	32,000,000
Accounts receivable net greater than sixty days Past due			$ 18,000,000				$ 18,000,000					$ 18,000,000	$ 18,000,000
Las Vegas, Nevada | Acute Care Hospital Services
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of hospital facilities | Hospital												6
Las Vegas, Nevada | Net Revenue | Geographic Concentration Risk
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of revenue												16.00%	15.00%	15.00%
Washington, District of Columbia | Acute Care Facilities | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			20.00%									20.00%
Texas | Acute Care Facilities | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			11.00%									11.00%
Pennsylvania | Behavioral Health Services | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			20.00%									20.00%
Ohio | Behavioral Health Services | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			30.00%									30.00%
Washington | Behavioral Health Services | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			20.00%									20.00%
Nevada | Acute Care Facilities | Third-Party Ownership Interests
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of non-controlling, minority ownership interests held by outside owners			5.00%									5.00%
Minimum
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Patients treated at hospitals for non elective services gross income federal poverty guidelines												200.00%
Minimum | Building and Building Improvements
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment, useful lives												20 years
Minimum | Equipment
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment, useful lives												3 years
Maximum
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Patients treated at hospitals for non elective services gross income federal poverty guidelines												400.00%
Maximum | Building and Building Improvements
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment, useful lives												40 years
Maximum | Equipment
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Property and equipment, useful lives												15 years
Medicare
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues												$ 1,889,245,000	$ 1,875,875,000	$ 1,816,840,000
Medicare | Acute Care Hospital Services
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues												1,336,200,000	1,296,152,000	1,223,150,000
Medicare | Behavioral Health Services
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues												553,045,000	579,723,000	593,690,000
Health Care | State Medicaid programs
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Revenues												419,000,000	$ 387,000,000	$ 357,000,000
ASU 2014-09
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Effect of change on after-tax net income												$ 1,000,000
ASU 2014-09 | Medicare
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of estimated net revenue adjustment												1.00%	1.00%	1.00%
ASU 2016-01 | Premier, Inc. | Other (Income) Expense, Net
Summary Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Unrealized gain												$ 4,000,000	$ 4,000,000

[1] Includes net revenues generated from our behavioral health care facilities located in the U.K. amounting to approximately $554 million in 2019, $505 million in 2018 and $429 million in 2017.  Total assets at our U.K. behavioral health care facilities were approximately $1.270 billion as of December 31, 2019, $1.224 billion as of December 31, 2018 and $1.098 billion as of December 31, 2017. In addition, included in our 2019 Behavioral Health Services operating segment Income (loss) before allocation of corporate overhead and income taxes is a pre-tax $98 million provision for asset impairment to reduce the carrying value of a tradename intangible asset and real property assets. Included in our 2018 Behavioral Health Services operating segment Income (loss) before allocation of corporate overhead and income taxes is a pre-tax $49 million provision for asset impairment to reduce the carrying value of a tradename intangible asset.