Long Term Debt (Parenthetical) (Detail) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)
One Hundred Million Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount	$ 100.0
Eurodollar Rate plus the applicable percentage	2.52%
Maturity date	Aug. 28, 2020
Two Hundred Million Revolving Credit Facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount	$ 200.0
Maturity date	Aug. 28, 2020

Interest rate for the amounts borrowed under the Term Loan, including the terms and method for determining the interest rate at the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	amed_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Face (par) amount of debt instrument at time of issuance.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 55
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=34725769&loc=d3e28878-108400

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6451184&loc=d3e28551-108399

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentFaceAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

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

- Definition

Date when the debt instrument is scheduled to be fully repaid, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(a)(2))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentMaturityDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=amed_OneHundredMillionTermLoanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=amed_TwoHundredMillionRevolvingCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: