Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($)
$ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands
 3 Months Ended 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Sep. 30, 2016
Jun. 30, 2016
Mar. 31, 2016
Dec. 31, 2015
Sep. 30, 2015
Jun. 30, 2015
Mar. 31, 2015
Dec. 31, 2016
Dec. 31, 2015
Dec. 31, 2014
Numerator:                      
Net income (loss) attributable to Surgery Partners, Inc. $ 16,862 $ (2,338) $ 2,120 $ (7,190) $ 16,739 $ (3,122) $ (5,426) $ (6,762) $ 9,453 $ 1,429 $ (65,897)
Denominator:                      
Weighted average shares outstanding- basic (in shares)                 48,018,944 36,066,233 32,295,364
Effect of dilutive securities (in shares)                 171,794 1,398,154 0
Weighted average shares outstanding- diluted (in shares) [1],[2]                 48,190,738 37,464,387 32,295,364
Earnings (loss) per share:                      
Basic (in USD per share) $ 0.35 $ (0.05) $ 0.04 $ (0.15) $ 0.35 $ (0.10) $ (0.17) $ (0.21) $ 0.20 $ 0.04 $ (2.04)
Diluted (in USD per share) $ 0.35 $ (0.05) $ 0.04 $ (0.15) $ 0.35 $ (0.10) $ (0.17) $ (0.21) $ 0.20 [2] $ 0.04 [2] $ (2.04) [2]
Stock options                      
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]                      
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)                 0 0 0
Restricted shares                      
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]                      
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)                 0 0 1,386,805
[1] Effect of the Reorganization in 2015, as defined in Note 1, has been retrospectively applied to all periods presented.
[2] The impact of potentially dilutive securities for the year ended December 31, 2014 was not considered because the effect would be anti-dilutive for the period.