Chiropractors Lack Standing Under ERISA To Assert Claims For Benefits

A federal district court in New Jersey recently dismissed claims asserted by a putative class of chiropractors seeking to enjoin the procedure used by UnitedHealth to determine the necessity of certain treatments administered by in-network physicians, finding that they lacked standing to assert their claims.  Premier Health Ctr., P.C. v. UnitedHealth Grp., No. 2:11-cv-00425-ES-CLW (D.N.J. August 1, 2013).  The plaintiffs claimed that they had an assignment of the right to reimbursement for services and that this qualified them as a "participant or beneficiary" under ERISA.   The court determined that the plaintiffs had no standing to enjoin UnitedHealth's procedure because they were no longer in-network providers and thus would not be impacted by the procedure in the future.  (The plaintiffs' claims arising from assignments made while the plaintiffs were in-network were subject to arbitration and not part of the lawsuit.)  The court also rejected a second