Case Name: IN RE: IMPULSE MONITORING, INC., HUMANA INTRAOPERATIVE MONITORING SERVICES CLAIMS AND EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT (ERISA) LITIGATION
Court: United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2015-02-06
Citations: 84 F. Supp. 3d 1376
Docket Number: MDL No. 2596
Parties: IN RE: IMPULSE MONITORING, INC., HUMANA INTRAOPERATIVE MONITORING SERVICES CLAIMS AND EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT (ERISA) LITIGATION.
Judges: Before SARAH S. VANCE, Chair, MARJORIE O. RENDELL, CHARLES R. BREYER, ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE, R. DAVID PROCTOR, and CATHERINE D. PERRY, Judges of the Panel.
Reporter: Federal Supplement 3d
Volume: 84
Pages: 1376–1380

Head Matter:
IN RE: IMPULSE MONITORING, INC., HUMANA INTRAOPERATIVE MONITORING SERVICES CLAIMS AND EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT (ERISA) LITIGATION.
MDL No. 2596.
United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
Feb. 6, 2015.
Before SARAH S. VANCE, Chair, MARJORIE O. RENDELL, CHARLES R. BREYER, ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE, R. DAVID PROCTOR, and CATHERINE D. PERRY, Judges of the Panel.

Opinion:
ORDER DENYING TRANSFER
SARAH S. VANCE, Chair.
Before the Panel: Defendant Humana Health Plan, Inc. (Humana) move under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 to centralize this litigation concerning its failure to pay for health benefit reimbursement for intraoperative neuromonitoring services in the Western District of Tennessee or, alternatively, the Northern District of Georgia. Common plaintiff Impulse Monitoring, Inc. (Impulse) opposes centralization and, alternatively, suggests centralization in the Southern District of California or the Western District of Tennessee. This litigation cur rently consists of 57 actions listed on Schedule A and pending in eleven districts.
After considering all argument of counsel, we conclude that Section 1407 centralization is not appropriate at this time. The actions here unquestionably involve common factual issues surrounding Humana's failure to pay Impulse's claims for the costs of intraoperative neuromonitoring services, which ranged in the actions before us from approximately $2000 to $13,500. We are unconvinced, on the record before us, that the issues remaining in this litigation are sufficiently complex or numerous to warrant the creation of an MDL. Specifically, at oral argument, the parties informed us that they had resolved Humana's concerns about fraud and abuse issues surrounding these claims and that payment had commenced in some of Impulse's recent submission of claims in Medicare Advantage plans. The primary dispute in this litigation, according to counsel, now centers on purported billing and coding errors.
Given the lack of complexity of the remaining disputed issues (i.e., billing and coding errors) and the limited number of involved counsel, we conclude that centralization is not necessary to serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses or promote the just and efficient conduct of the actions. At oral argument, counsel for Humana and Impulse — the only parties to this litigation — appeared to be effectively cooperating to resolve the remaining issues in this litigation. We encourage these efforts to continue and observe that alternatives to formal centralization — such as voluntary cooperation among the involved counsel and judges — appear to be workable and, in our judgment, preferable to centralization in these circumstances. See, e.g., In re Crest Sensitivity Treatment and Prot. Toothpaste Mktg. and Sales Practices Litig., 867 F.Supp.2d 1348 (J.P.M.L.2012).
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Humana's motion for Section 1407 centralization of the actions listed on Schedule A is denied.
SCHEDULE A
MDL No. 2596 — IN RE: IMPULSE MONITORING, INC., HUMANA IN-TRAOPERATIVE MONITORING SERVICES CLAIMS AND EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT (ERISA) LITIGATION
Northern District of Georgia
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., CA. No. 1:14-01637
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., CA. No. 1:14-01639
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., CA No. 1:14-01640
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., CA. No. 1:14-01641
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., CA. No. 1:14-01642
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01643
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01644
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01645
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01646
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01647
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01649
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01650
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01651
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01652
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01653
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01654
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01655
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01656
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02039
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02053
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02054
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02056
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02058
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02059
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02060
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02061
District of Minnesota
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC., ET ALL. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., ET AL., C.A. No. 0:14-01815
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 0:14-02146
Eastern District of North Carolina
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 5:14-00327
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 5:14-00328
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 5:14-00329
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 7:14-00108
Western District of North Carolina
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 2:14-00021
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 8:14-00296
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00297
District of South Carolina
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN INC., C.A. No. 3:14-02052
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN INC., C.A. No. 3:14-02280
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN INC., C.A. No. 4:14-02050
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN INC., C.A. No. 4:14-02154
Eastern District of Tennessee
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00250
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00313
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00314
Middle District of Tennessee
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 2:14-00055
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-01253
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-01254
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-01407
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-01438
Western District of Tennessee
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01124
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01125
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01131
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-01158
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 1:14-02514
Western District of Texas
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00215
Western District of Virginia
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 6:14-00017
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 7:14-00308
Northern District of West Virginia
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC. v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00050
IMPULSE MONITORING, INC v. HUMANA HEALTH PLAN, INC., C.A. No. 3:14-00051
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan did not participate in the decision of this matter.
. Defendant's motion initially included 58 actions but, during briefing, a Western District of Texas action was dismissed;
. All plans at issue in this litigation, whether Medicare Advantage or private plans governed by ERISA, were administered by Hu-mana.