"Action Required" email decoder
Last updated: July 28, 2026
Alpaca sends "Action Required" emails when something needs you before care can move forward — a referral to accept, an assessment to book, a note to sign, a document to upload. Each email is really a pointer to a To-do waiting inside Alpaca. This article explains what those emails mean, why you're getting them, and how to act on each one so it stops landing in your inbox.
The short version: the email is a nudge, the To-dos page is where you actually resolve it. For the full walkthrough of that page, see "To-dos: How to Review and Respond to Care-Blocking Items."
Why you're getting these emails
Alpaca creates To-dos automatically whenever a client hits a point that needs a human decision — you never create them yourself. When a To-do is created (or becomes overdue), Alpaca can email the responsible person so it doesn't sit unseen. So an "Action Required" email almost always means: a new To-do is open for you, or one you already had is now overdue.
To-dos were previously called "Escalations." If you've seen that older wording in an email, it's the same thing.
What to do with any "Action Required" email
Open the email and read the client name and the type of item.
Click through to Alpaca (or log in and click To-dos in the left-hand navigation). A red badge shows how many items are overdue.
Find the item — overdue items are red and sit at the top; on-track items are gray below.
Use Quick solve for the obvious path, or Other options for a short guided flow when it's not the straightforward case.
Once you resolve the To-do, the emails for it stop.
Decoding the common ones
If the email is about… | It means / what to do |
|---|---|
A new referral | A family has been routed to you. Accept or deny it from the To-do (Accept referral). |
Booking an assessment / "ready for assessment" | The client's benefits are verified and they're ready to be scheduled. Use Book assessment. |
An upcoming reassessment / expiring authorization | An early heads-up (gray) that turns urgent (red) about a week before the auth lapses. Start the reassessment before it expires. |
An unsigned or missing session note | A note is blocking billing/payroll. Sign it — see "Sign and submit your session note." |
A document or signature needed from a family | Consent, a treatment-plan signature, or an upload is outstanding. The To-do shows the family's contact info so you can follow up. |
A billing or care-blocking issue | Something is stopping a claim or care. See "Checking and Resolving Billing Issues." |
"I keep getting these" — how to make them stop
Reminder emails repeat while an item stays open or overdue. The reliable way to stop them is to resolve the underlying To-do. A few notes:
If you've handed the item to Alpaca (for example, we're re-engaging a family or sourcing an RBT), the To-do shows In Progress with Alpaca (yellow) and nothing is needed from you right now.
If you can't act yet, use Snooze to pause it until a date you choose — it returns to your Open list then.
If an email points to a To-do that looks like it's for the wrong person, or you believe it's already handled, contact support@alpacahealth.io.
Not getting emails you expected?
If teammates are getting "Action Required" emails and you aren't, check your spam/junk folder and confirm the email on your Alpaca profile is correct. For bounced-email notifications you're receiving about families, see "Why am I receiving email delivery failure notifications?"