Have a patient who may benefit from buprenorphine? Call the Iowa Poison Control Center's I-BEACON hotline for 24/7 provider-to-provider consultation on initiation, dosing, and follow-up.

CALL NOW: 1-800-222-1222

No cost to Iowa healthcare providers.

Iowa Buprenorphine Education, Access, and Consultation Network — a service of the Iowa Poison Control Center.

Expert Support When You Need It

When a patient is ready for help, every minute matters.

I-BEACON connects Iowa healthcare providers with expert clinical consultation to support the initiation of buprenorphine for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Whether you're working in an emergency department, primary care clinic, urgent care, hospital, behavioral health setting or substance use treatment program, I-BEACON provides real-time guidance to help you confidently begin evidence-based treatment and connect patients to ongoing care.

What is I-BEACON?

The Iowa Buprenorphine Education, Access, and Consultation Network (I-BEACON) is a statewide initiative designed to expand access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) by supporting Iowa healthcare providers.

The program combines three essential components:

How I-BEACON Helps

I-BEACON supports providers at every step - from the initial patient encounter to successful connection to ongoing care.

Built for Iowa Providers

I-BEACON is designed to support the unique needs of healthcare professionals across Iowa - rural, urban, and everywhere in between.

For Treatment Providers: Help Patients Complete Their Journey

I-BEACON successfully connects Iowa patients with buprenorphine initiation. Now we're building a statewide network of treatment providers ready to support these patients through ongoing care.

If your clinic or program can provide medication management, counseling, or behavioral health support for patients on buprenorphine, we'd like to include you in our provider database. By having quality treatment options close to home, we ensure these patients stay engaged and keep their momentum toward recovery.

Our team is actively working to expand our database of MOUD providers across all 99 Iowa counties. If you'd like to be listed as a follow-up option for patients initiating buprenorphine through I-BEACON, please fill out this form.

Together, we're closing the gap between initiation and ongoing care.

Why Start Buprenorphine?

Initiating buprenorphine when clinically appropriate can reduce mortality, improve engagement in treatment, and decrease illicit opioid use. The evidence is among the strongest in medicine.

Buprenorphine saves lives.

Among patients who survived an opioid overdose, those treated with buprenorphine had roughly a 40% lower risk of opioid-related death over the following year compared with those who received no medication. [1]

Starting treatment works better than referring.

In a randomized clinical trial, 78% of patients started on buprenorphine in the emergency department were engaged in addiction treatment 30 days later, compared with 45% who received a brief intervention plus facilitated referral and 37% who received referral alone. [2]

Patients use fewer drugs and fewer hospital resources.

Self-reported illicit opioid use fell from 5.4 days per week to 0.9 days per week in the buprenorphine group, compared with 5.4 to 2.3 days in the referral group. [2] Patients started on buprenorphine also used fewer inpatient addiction treatment services—11%, compared with 35% and 37% in the other groups. [2]

A major treatment gap remains.

In the year following a nonfatal overdose, fewer than one-third of patients received any medication for opioid use disorder: 17% received buprenorphine, 11% methadone and 6% naltrexone. [1] That's an absolute difference of about 41 percentage points. For roughly every three patients started on buprenorphine rather than simply referred, one additional patient is still in treatment a month later.

National Clinical Guidance Supports ED Initiation

National emergency medicine guidance is clear: emergency physicians should offer to initiate buprenorphine and connect patients directly to ongoing treatment. I-BEACON exists to make that practical in every Iowa emergency department, at every hour.

American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
Offer buprenorphine. Connect patients directly to ongoing treatment.

The American College of Emergency Physicians convened a panel of emergency physicians with expertise in clinical research, addiction, toxicology, and administration. The resulting consensus recommendations state that emergency physicians should offer to initiate opioid use disorder treatment with buprenorphine in appropriate patients and provide direct linkage to ongoing treatment. These recommendations were approved by the ACEP Board of Directors in January 2021. [3]

American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT)
Use the ED visit as a bridge to long-term treatment.

The American College of Medical Toxicology likewise supports administering buprenorphine in the emergency department as a bridge to long-term addiction treatment, and to treat opioid withdrawal and reduce the risk of overdose and death following discharge. [3]

Program Funding

I-BEACON is made possible through grant funding from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and Iowa's Opioid Settlement Fund. This support allows the Iowa Poison Control Center to provide I-BEACON consultation, education, and resources at no cost to Iowa healthcare providers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions about initiating buprenorphine or using the I-BEACON line? Here are some answers to some of the most common questions from Iowa healthcare providers.

Do I need to be an addiction specialist to call?

No. I-BEACON is designed for emergency physicians, hospitalists, primary care clinicians, urgent care providers, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. If you are caring for a patient who may benefit from buprenorphine, you are who we are here for. You do not need to be an addiction specialist, nor do you need to have an addiction specialist on staff, to start buprenorphine safely. You need a clear protocol and an experienced clinician to talk it through in real time. That is what I⁠‑BEACON provides. One call connects you to a clinician who assists you.

What if I am worried about precipitating opioid withdrawal in a patient?

This is a common clinical concern, but reassuringly, rates of precipitated withdrawal are low. In one study, the rate of precipitated withdrawal with sublingual buprenorphine was <1% [6]. If precipitated withdrawal were to occur, I-BEACON would be able to help.

What if I am uncertain about how to start buprenorphine? How do I assess the patient prior to/after starting buprenorphine? Where do I tell patients to follow-up?

This is what I-BEACON is designed to help you do. We can discuss buprenorphine dosing, patient assessments, help provide follow-up information, and answer any questions you may have. We are here to help.

REFERENCES
  1. Larochelle MR, Bernson D, Land T, et al. Medication for opioid use disorder after nonfatal opioid overdose and association with mortality: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2018;169(3):137-145. doi:10.7326/M17-3107
  2. D'Onofrio G, O'Connor PG, Pantalon MV, et al. Emergency department-initiated buprenorphine/naloxone treatment for opioid dependence: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2015;313(16):1636-1644. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.3474
  3. Hawk K, Hoppe J, Ketcham E, et al. Consensus recommendations on the treatment of opioid use disorder in the emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 2021;78(3):434-442. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.04.023
  4. Wax PM, Stolbach AI, Schwarz ES, Warrick BJ, Wiegand TJ, Nelson LS. ACMT position statement: buprenorphine administration in the emergency department. J Med Toxicol. 2019;15(3):215-216. doi:10.1007/s13181-019-00712-3
  5. D'Onofrio G, Herring AA, Hawk KF, Perrone J, Cowan E, McCormack RP, Dziura J, Matthews AG, Pantalon MV, Owens P, Martel S, Coupet E Jr, Lofwall MR, Walsh SL, Edelman EJ, Carpenter JE, Strout TD, Baumann MR, Anderson E, Barrett TW, Dorey A, Taillac P, Cochran G, Crandall CS, Wilson J, Manteuffel J, Cole JB, Whiteside LK, Jones C, Samuels E, Huntley K, Fiellin DA; ED INNOVATION Investigators. Emergency Department-Initiated Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2026 Mar17;335(11):948-960. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.27019. Erratum in: JAMA. 2026 Apr 28;335(16):1452. doi: 10.1001/jama.2026.4094. PMID: 41670966; PMCID: PMC12895321
  6. Andrilla CHA, Moore TE, Patterson DG, Larson EH. Geographic distribution of providers with a DEA waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder: a 5-year update. J Rural Health. 2019;35(1):108-112. doi:10.1111/jrh.12307