The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has temporarily halted its suspension of payments to St Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.
It suspended federal payments, including Medicare, as a penalty after St. Mary's failed to file reports on its use of $5.6 million in pandemic-related funding on time.
St Mary's sued HHS last week, alleging that was illegal because the pandemic payments weren't misused, they were merely filed late. It also said its financial situation was declining rapidly, with only 10 days of cash on hand.
In a joint U.S. District Court filing on Jan. 14, HHS says it will allow payments to continue for 30 days. The parties are also asking the court to issue a stay on hearings in the matter so they can have further discussions about the case.
