Representatives from Parkway Hospital in Queens are negotiating plans with state health officials to stay open as an acute care facility, hospital officials said.

In recent days, Parkway officials attempted to quiet speculation that the hospital had closed already. The hospital was recommended for closure in 2006 by a state health panel, the Berger Commission. Parkway is expected to close by September 30.

In a statement, the hospital’s vice president of marketing, Fred Stewart, said ambulances were diverted and doctors and patients were confused following inaccurate speculation that the hospital already had shut its doors. Mr. Stewart, who said the hospital is eyeing plans for alternate uses for the facility, said several large hospitals in Brooklyn have expressed interest in a clinical affiliation with Parkway.

A spokesman for the state’s Department of Health, Jeffrey Hammond, confirmed that Parkway leaders were meeting with the state but declined to discuss any plan for alternate use that may be under consideration. “Our first priority is the safe closing of the hospital,” Mr. Hammond said in an e-mail message.

Fund Awards Health Care Grants

The United Hospital Fund has awarded $610,000 in grants that will fund 12 programs designed to improve health care in New York City.

The grants, part of $2.5 million the fund awards each year, will support projects such as initiatives to promote breast-feeding, a program to help doctors deal with emotional issues sparked by medical care, and strategies for expanding health insurance coverage among immigrants. The largest grant went to Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital, which each received $75,000, to expand their work to promote breast-feeding.

“These programs stimulate programs that we expect will make a positive difference in the delivery of high-quality health care to all New Yorkers,” the president of the United Hospital Fund, James Tallon, said in a statement.

NewYork-Presbyterian Recruits Harvard Rehab Doctor

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has named a Harvard Medical School stroke expert, Dr. Joel Stein, as chief of a coordinated program in rehabilitation medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Dr. Stein currently is the chief medical officer for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, and he is an associate professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. He will assume the post on September 1.

esolomont@nysun.com