The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute board of governors approved nearly $42 million to fund 19 studies comparing a variety of health care approaches, including a $3 million project to determine the impact of different health plans on medication use and outcomes among adults and children with asthma and a $2.3 million project to determine whether established treatment or a newer drug is more effective against treatment-resistant cases of Kawasaki disease. Other projects include assessments of the quality of communications between health care providers and patients and preservation of patient privacy when linking data sets that include medical information.