Why can't I see this client?

If a client you expect to find is not showing up in Alpaca, it is almost always one of a few things: you are not assigned to that client, the client has been discharged and dropped out of your default view, your role only lets you see your own assigned clients, or the client belongs to a different organization than the one you are currently in. This article walks through each reason and the quickest fix.

Work through the sections in order. The first two solve most cases.

First, the two things that control what you see

Whether a client appears for you comes down to two questions:

• Are you assigned to this client? Most clinical staff see only the clients they are directly assigned to (their caseload). If you are not on the client's care team, the client will not appear in your client list.

• Does your role let you see all clients, or only assigned ones? Admin and director type roles are set up to see every client in the organization. Clinician, lead RBT, and RBT type roles see only the clients they are assigned to.

Keep these two in mind as you read on. The rest of the article is just the specific situations these rules produce.

Reason 1: You are not assigned to the client

This is the most common reason, especially for BCBAs and RBTs. If you are not the supervising BCBA and you are not listed on the client's care team, the client will not show in your list.

On a client's page, assignment lives on the Clinicians card, which has three parts:

• Supervising BCBA: the BCBA responsible for the client's clinical program.

• Care team: the clinicians who work with the client day to day. Being on the care team is what puts the client on your caseload.

• Approved substitution: staff who are approved to cover sessions for the client when needed. This also gives visibility to the client.

If you should be working with a client but cannot see them, you likely need to be added to their Care team. Because you cannot open a client you cannot see, someone who already has access (an admin, director, or the supervising BCBA) needs to add you. Ask them to open the client, open the Clinicians card, and add you to the care team, then save.

If the client does not exist in Alpaca yet, or nobody in your clinic can find them either, see How to Add a New Client or Get a Missing Client Added to Your Caseload.

Note: only active staff accounts can be added to a care team. If your account was recently suspended or reactivated, that can affect whether you appear as an option to assign. If you cannot be added, contact your clinic administrator.

Reason 2: The client has been discharged or is no longer active

Clients move through several statuses over their time with your clinic, such as waitlist, new, assessment, active, and discharged. When a client is discharged, they drop to the bottom of your client list and are grouped separately from your active clients, so it can look like they have disappeared.

To find a discharged client:

• Scroll to the discharged group at the bottom of your client list.

• Or use the search box on the client list and type the client's name. Search looks across your clients regardless of status.

If a client was discharged by mistake, an admin or the supervising BCBA can open the client and change the status back. If the discharge was correct but you still need the client's records, you can still open them from search or the discharged group.

Reason 3: Your role only lets you see assigned clients

Alpaca separates what you can do clinically from how many clients you can see. Two different kinds of access matter here:

So if a coworker can see a client and you cannot, it is often because their role is set to see all clients while yours is set to see only your assigned ones. That is expected behavior, not a bug. If your job really does require seeing every client (for example, you moved into a scheduling or clinical leadership position), your clinic administrator can review your role. See 2.1 Understand user roles & permissions for how roles and permissions work.

If you only need to work with one specific client, the simpler fix is usually to be added to that client's care team (Reason 1) rather than changing your whole role.

Reason 4: The client is in a different organization

If you belong to more than one organization or clinic in Alpaca, you can only see the clients of the organization you are currently working in. A client who lives in another organization will not appear until you switch to it.

Use the organization switcher (in the menu at the top of the screen) to change which organization you are working in, then check your client list again. If you only belong to one organization, you can skip this reason.

Reason 5: A plan limit (less common)

In some cases the number of active clients your clinic can see at once is affected by your plan. If you have ruled out everything above and a client still will not appear, your plan may limit how many active clients you can see. Contact support to confirm.

Still cannot find the client?

If you have checked all of the above and the client still is not showing, reach out to your clinic administrator or Alpaca support. It helps to include the client's name (or initials), the organization you are looking in, and whether a coworker can see the client, so we can pinpoint whether it is an assignment, status, role, or organization issue.