This plugin for PHPStorm solves the problem perfectly. https://www.previousnext.com.au/blog/native-phpstorm-drupal-test-runner#comment-1588
https://github.com/mglaman/intellij-drupal-run-tests
Alternatively, this plugin led me to the realization that you can also do the same thing with a PHP Script Run/Debug configuration.
Essentially just adding the following in the arguments field: --php /usr/bin/php --url http://webny.dev --dburl mysql://drupal:[email protected]/drupal --concurrency 1 --module simpletest_example
obvously changing out for your db settings and module/class/file