•	Prior authorization policies are an acceptable component of pharmaceutical plans that seek to influence prescribing behaviour so that the right drug is used for the right problem. Designed appropriately, it would appear that PA policies can support sustainability of drug benefit plans and thereby preserve access to necessary drugs for low income populations
•	When drugs are interchangeable, restrictions to reimbursement policies decrease prescription drug utilization and costs for the targeted drugs often without increases in the utilization of other health services however this proxy for health outcomes may not be sensitive enough to detect all important impacts
•	Results may not be generalizable beyond the drugs that are most easily interchangeable, like NSAIDs and PPIs. Selection of drugs for restriction or removal should be based on the clinical attributes of the drug class and properly designed interrupted time series evaluation is important to measure impact
•	Application for exemption from restrictions to reimbursement provides a 'safety valve' allowing access to restricted drugs under some circumstances thereby maintaining a range of therapeutic options and facilitating acceptance by physicians and patients
•	Relaxation of or exemption from reimbursement restriction policies for drugs that are useful for secondary prevention and under‐used drugs increase appropriate use and produce more modest savings
•	High quality studies with measures of health outcomes are few and, where available, are inconclusive highlighting the requirement that restrictions be solidly based on clinical trial and and pharmacosurveillance studies