A system and method for mediating the routing of asynchronous messages includes routing the asynchronous message to a first recipient, determining whether the first recipient opened the asynchronous message, and re-routing the asynchronous message to a second recipient who is qualified to receive and respond to the message if the first recipient fails to open the message. In an aspect, the second recipient is selected based upon the role that the second recipient performs within the system. In another aspect, the message is re-routed to the second recipient if the first recipient fails to open the message within a deadline imposed by the message sender. In another aspect, the message is re-routed to the second recipient if the first recipient fails to open the message within a deadline automatically imposed by the system when the message is of a certain type.