2.2 Add New Team Members (including RBTs and BCBAs)
Last updated: August 10, 2026
Adding a team member is how you bring an RBT, BT, or BCBA into your practice so they can be scheduled, collect data, and get paid. You do it from the My Team page by tapping Invite Team Member, which opens a short two-step form (General Information, then Pay Information). When you finish, Alpaca emails the new hire an invite that walks them through data-collection onboarding and starts their payroll setup. You then complete their clinical profile (credentials, availability, and role-specific details) on their user page.
What You'll Need Before You Start
Their name and email
The access level (Admin Role) they should have
Their pay structure and rates (or salary)
Where they'll work (work location and state)
For credentialed roles: NPI and CAQH login
Which leave policies to assign them (if you've set any up)
Step 1: General Information
First Name, Last Name, Email (required). The email is where their invite is sent.
Admin Role. Sets what they can access. Only Admin can see payroll and finances, so choose carefully. Options include Admin, Organization User, Clinician, Director, and Lead RBT.
Highest Level of Education. This is important to get right to ensure correct billing.
Desired Hours Per Week.
What clients will this staff work with? (optional) You can assign clients now or later.
Phone Number (optional).
Staff NPI, CAQH ID, CAQH Username, CAQH Password (all optional). Enter these for anyone who needs to be credentialed, so Alpaca can drive their payer contracting. You can add them later on the profile if you don't have them yet.
Assign to Leave Time Policies. Appears when your organization has active leave policies. Pick which policies this hire accrues under (see Leave Time Policies below).
Step 2: Pay Information
Work location (this is where you set it, and it drives state taxes).
Payroll Work Location. Choose the worker's home address (recommended for most in-home clinicians) or a fixed employer location.
What state will this worker physically be located in while conducting sessions? (the work state).
Set these to where the person actually works. Work location and work state determine which state's payroll taxes apply to them. If you enter the wrong state or address, it can trigger tax obligations and agency notices in the wrong state, so get it right when you add them.
Compensation.
Compensation Structure: Hourly or Salary.
If Salary: set Time Classification (Full Time or Part Time) and Annual Salary.
If Hourly: set the per-hour rates that apply. Alpaca tracks separate rates so each type of time is paid correctly: Clinical, Training, Admin, Drive Time, and Weekend pay rates.
Employment contract (for payroll-enabled orgs).
Worker Type: W-2 Employee or 1099-NEC Contractor.
Hire Date, Effective Date, Contract End Date as applicable.
Overtime Eligible toggle.
When both steps are complete, tap Create and Send Invite.
After You Invite: Complete Their Profile
The invite captures the basics. Open the new team member's user page to fill in the role-specific details:
Certifications and Licenses. Add each credential with its type, number, issuing authority, dates (including the expiration date), jurisdiction (for example, TX or CA), and status. This is where a BCBA's license and an RBT's certification live, and where Alpaca tracks expirations.
BCBA Information (for BCBAs): work state, languages, hours available, max client capacity, and more.
Availability. Set it accurately, since it drives scheduling and substitute matching.
Emergency Contacts.
Credentialing: Who Needs It
BCBAs need credentialing to bill payers. Have your new BCBA complete the credentialing form so Alpaca can drive their payer contracts.
RBTs usually do not need to be credentialed, but some payers require it. The ones to watch are TriCare West and Baylor Scott and White (in Texas). If an RBT will serve clients on those payers, have them complete the RBT credentialing form as well. Alpaca surfaces the credentialing form link in the invite flow.
Do this early: credentialing is agency-paced and can take weeks, so start it before the person's first day whenever you can.
Leave Time Policies
When you add a team member, you assign them to your leave policies (the "Assign to Leave Time Policies" field in Step 1). That only works if your policies already exist, so set them up first.
Where to set them up. Leave policies are configured in your Organization settings under Leave Time Policies. If that area isn't available to your account, email support@alpacahealth.io and we'll configure them with you. Each policy is a Leave Time Type (the label and category, such as PTO, Paid Sick Leave, Paid Holiday, or Unpaid Leave) plus a Leave Time Configuration (how it accrues and who gets it). See Set Up Leave Time for the step-by-step.
How to think about your policies before you configure them. Decide, for each type of leave:
What you offer: PTO, sick leave, holidays, unpaid leave, and any clinic-specific types.
How it accrues: per hour worked, per pay period, or an annual lump sum.
Who is eligible: all employees or full-time only, plus any waiting period for new hires.
When it resets (for example, January 1) and what happens to unused leave: roll over (with a cap) or reset to zero.
Whether it pays out on termination.
Setting these up before you onboard your team means every new hire can be assigned to the right policy the moment you add them.
Pre-Start Preparation
You can do all of this before the person's official start date:
Send the invite (Steps 1 and 2 above).
Payroll setup starts automatically once they open the invite email.
Have BCBAs complete the credentialing form, and any RBTs serving TriCare West or Baylor Scott and White complete theirs.
That way they're ready to work, and to be paid, on day one.