LEWISTON — St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center is seeking to drop its suit against the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which withheld funds from the hospital as repayment of two pandemic relief payments the hospital received for $5.6 million.

There are no details in the one-page motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on May 1 as to why St. Mary’s is asking to have the case voluntarily dismissed.

“Plaintiff St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center hereby gives notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice of its complaint … against defendants, which have not served an answer or motion for summary judgment,” the motion states.

St. Mary’s filed the lawsuit in January after the federal government said it would withhold Medicare payments from the hospital because it failed to timely file a report required by hospitals who received pandemic funds.

The hospital received nine pandemic payments totaling more than $16 million and fulfilled reporting requirements for seven of those payments. However, it failed to file reports for the last two payments within the timeframe outlined by the federal government. The hospital cited a change in personnel at the time as the reason for the reporting oversight.

In its initial motion, St. Mary’s argued that when Congress issued the funds it placed “substance over form” and intended for the funds to go to health care providers.

Despite failing to file the required report timely enough, the hospital provided proof to the federal government that it sustained pandemic-related financial losses higher than what it received in pandemic relief funds. It lost more than $32 million in 2020.

St. Mary’s self-reported the oversight to the federal government and provided proof that the hospital system used the funds properly, but the federal government moved forward with penalizing the hospital anyway, withholding federal payments until the roughly $5 million was paid back.

The federal government initially agreed to stop withholding payments for 30 days shortly after the lawsuit was filed, then agreed to stop withholding the payments for the duration of litigation.

St. Mary’s did not respond to requests for comment and further clarification on the motion.