Description containing the number of days in a home health episode of care.

No definition available.

Name:	amed_EpisodeOfCareAsEpisodicBasedRevenueDuration
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Estimate of obligations due Medicare upon demand due to overages for the inpatient cap and/or overall payment cap.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_EstimatedAmountDueBackToMedicareInOtherAccruedLiabilities
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Description containing the number of visits related to the first threshold of therapy services required.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_FirstThresholdOfTherapyServicesRequired
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Historical collection rate from Medicare.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_HistoricalCollectionRateFromMedicare
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description containing the percentage of the entity's Hospice net Medicare service revenue that is derived from routine care.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_HospiceMedicareRevenueRateAccountedForRoutineCare
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description containing the visit threshold for a low utilization payment adjustment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_LowUtilizationPaymentAdjustmentNumberOfVisits
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description containing the number of days from the date the request for anticipated payment was received in which the final bill must be submitted to Medicare.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_NetServiceRevenueEpisodePaymentRateDuration
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Non-Medicare Revenue Term Rates as a percentage of Medicare Term Rates

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_NonMedicareRevenueTermRates
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage at which total reimbursement is capped if cost of care is unusually costly.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_PercentageOfTotalReimbursementOfOutlierPayment
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description containing the number of visits related to the second threshold of therapy services required.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_SecondThresholdOfServicesRequired
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description containing the number of visits related to the third threshold of therapy services required.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	amed_ThirdThresholdOfTherapyServicesRequired
Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 18
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84177426&loc=d3e6351-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77997519&loc=d3e13531-108611

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84177426&loc=d3e6404-108592

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 21
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77997519&loc=d3e13537-108611

+ Details

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

- Definition

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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=amed_HomeHealthMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=amed_HospiceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	amed_CapYearAxis=amed_CapYearTwoThousandThirteenThroughTwoThousandEighteenMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskByTypeAxis=amed_MedicareRevenueMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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- Details

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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - Revenue Recognition Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) visit	Sep. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Episode of care as episodic-based revenue (days)			60 days
Net service revenue episode payment rate (days)			60 days
Percentage of total reimbursement of outlier payment			10.00%
Low utilization payment adjustment, maximum number of visits			5
First threshold of therapy services required (visits)			6
Second threshold of therapy services required (visits)			14
Third threshold of therapy services required (visits)			20
Historical collection rate from Medicare			99.00%
Hospice Medicare revenue rate accounted for routine care	98.00%	97.00%	97.00%	97.00%
Minimum [Member]
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Non-Medicare revenue term rates			90.00%
Maximum [Member]
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Non-Medicare revenue term rates			100.00%
Home Health
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Historical collection rate from Medicare			99.00%
Hospice
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Historical collection rate from Medicare			99.00%
Cap Year 2013 Through 2018
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Estimated amounts due back to Medicare \| $	$ 1.6		$ 1.6		$ 0.9
Medicare Revenue \| Net Service Revenue
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements [Line Items]
Percent of net services revenue	73.00%	76.00%	74.00%	76.00%