Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended										12 Months Ended									1 Months Ended				12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012		Sep. 30, 2012		Jun. 30, 2012		Mar. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011		Sep. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2011		Mar. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Home Health	Dec. 31, 2011 Home Health	Dec. 31, 2010 Home Health	Mar. 09, 2011 Home Health	Jan. 02, 2008 Home Health	Dec. 31, 2012 Hospice care center	Dec. 31, 2011 Hospice care center	Dec. 31, 2010 Hospice care center	May 31, 2012 Hospice care center	Jun. 06, 2011 Hospice care center	Jul. 31, 2010 Hospice care center	Jul. 31, 2009 Beacon Hospice, Inc.	Dec. 17, 2012 Masspro and Hospice	Feb. 15, 2012 Masspro and Hospice	Sep. 30, 2012 Pending Litigation	Jul. 31, 2012 Pending Litigation Person	Dec. 31, 2012 Favorable Hospice care center	Mar. 13, 2012 Favorable Maximus Federal Services And Hospice	Dec. 31, 2012 Unfavorable Home Health Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC)	Dec. 31, 2012 Unfavorable Maximus Federal Services	Dec. 31, 2012 Unfavorable Hospice care center	Mar. 13, 2012 Unfavorable Maximus Federal Services And Hospice	Dec. 17, 2012 Unfavorable Masspro and Hospice	Feb. 15, 2012 Unfavorable Masspro and Hospice	May 31, 2012 Large physician group
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Revenue earned amount		$ 363,000,000	[1],[2],[3],[4]	$ 375,600,000	[1]	$ 378,500,000	[1]	$ 370,800,000	[1]	$ 370,300,000	[5],[6],[7]	$ 370,300,000	[6],[7],[8]	$ 368,400,000	[6],[9]	$ 359,300,000	[5],[6]	$ 1,487,905,000	$ 1,468,305,000	$ 1,601,070,000			$ 1,198,000,000	$ 1,250,500,000	$ 1,462,500,000			$ 289,900,000	$ 217,800,000	$ 138,600,000																	$ 4,000,000
Number of Hospice Care Centers involved in OIG Self-Disclosure	2
Number of former employees who filled a putative collective and class action complaint																																						3
Description of plaintiffs class certification request																																					Plaintiff seeks class certification of similar employees who were or are employed in Illinois and seeks attorneys' fees, back wages and liquidated damages going back three years under the FLSA and three years under the Illinois statute.	Plaintiffs seek class certification of similar employees and seek attorneys' fees, back wages and liquidated damages going back three years under the FLSA and three years under the Pennsylvania statute.
Number of claims submitted by subsidiary																										114	137					16	30	25		112			4	1			12	11	35	89
Recovery amount of the overpayment made to the subsidiary																										5,600,000		6,300,000			6,100,000	5,500,000			82,210.65	6,600,000
Number of redetermination decisions																																									110	85
Operating leases agreement expiration year																					2013	2017
Operating lease term, years																					3 years	7 years
Future rental commitments for discontinued operations		900,000																900,000
Rent expense for non-cancelable operating leases																		32,700,000	32,600,000	35,200,000
Health insurance retention limit																		800,000
Workers' compensation insurance retention limit																		400,000
Professional liability insurance retention limit																		$ 300,000

[1] During each of the four quarters of 2012, we incurred certain costs associated with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Investigative Demand. Net of income taxes, these costs amounted to $2.2 million, $0.8 million, $0.6 million and $1.4 million for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2012, June 30, 2012, September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2012, respectively.

[2] Our results for the three month period ended December 31, 2012, included the settlement of a lawsuit in the amount of $2.1 million, net of income taxes

[3] During the fourth quarter of 2012, we incurred costs associated with the prepayment of the term loan and a portion of our existing senior notes associated with our March 26, 2008 Senior Credit Facility. Net of income taxes, these costs amounted to $2.8 million.

[4] During the fourth quarter of 2012, we recognized a non-cash goodwill and other intangibles impairment charge of $110.2 million, net of income taxes and non-controlling interests.

[5] During the first and fourth quarters of 2011, we incurred costs associated with our exit activities. See Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements for further details. Net of income taxes, these costs amounted to $0.7 million and $3.1 million for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

[6] During each of the four quarters of 2011, we incurred certain costs associated with the realignment of our operations and legal expenses related to the United States Senate Committee on Finance inquiry and SEC investigation. Net of income taxes, these costs amounted to $2.0 million, $0.7 million, $1.6 million and $1.8 million for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2011, June 30, 2011, September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

[7] During the third quarter of 2011, we recognized an estimated non-cash goodwill and other intangibles impairment charge of $434.6 million, net of income taxes. During the fourth quarter of 2011, we finalized our interim test of impairment of goodwill and as a result, recognized an additional non-cash goodwill and other intangibles impairment charge in the amount of $3.8 million, net of income taxes.

[8] Our results for the three month period ended September 30, 2011, included a release of a valuation allowance related to specific deferred tax assets in the amount of $1.9 million, net of income taxes.

[9] Our results for the three month period ended June 30, 2011, included a CMS bonus payment of $2.9 million net of income taxes as the result of the pay for performance demonstration.