IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE, Oct. 24, 2007)--U.S. physician offices accept UnitedHealth more than any other insurance plan, according to the initial findings of a new study recently completed by SK&A Information Services, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare information solutions and research.

UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, MN, is the nation’s second largest insurer with about 71 million enrollees. Initial results show UnitedHealth was accepted by 64.8 percent of office-based physicians, followed closely by Blue Cross Blue Shield, which was accepted by 64.3 percent of physicians. Humana, Aetna and Cigna plans rounded out the top five.

SK&A also determined which physician offices accept Medicare, Medicaid and Worker’s Compensation, and which offices accept all three plans. Medicare is the most popular of the three government insurance plans among physicians. Workers Comp received a lower ranking than Medicare or Medicaid.

“The new SK&A insurance plan (payer) data is useful intelligence for healthcare companies who provide valuable services to consumers and patients, and organizations that need this level of detail when performing detailed research and analysis on the healthcare market,” said Dave Escalante, President and COO of SK&A.

The payer data is sourced from nationwide insurance claims and matched to SK&A’s industry-leading database of healthcare practitioners. SK&A telephone-verifies every record in the database every six months to validate accuracy of the information. Currently the payer data is available for more than 500,000 physicians representing 91 practice specialties.

Editor’s Note: For a copy of the top 20 ranking or for more information about SK&A’s healthcare databases, please call Jack Schember, Director of Marketing, at 1-800-752-5478 x 1259.

About SK&A Information Services, Inc.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, SK&A Information Services is a leading provider of quality healthcare information. SK&A researches, formats and maintains contact and profiling information for over 2 million healthcare providers, including 830,000 prescribers. The firm is headquartered at 2601 Main Street, 6th Floor, Irvine, CA 92614. Visit the company online at www.skainfo.com.