diff --git a/docs/my-website/docs/proxy/config_settings.md b/docs/my-website/docs/proxy/config_settings.md
index 91445863f76..20bca925026 100644
--- a/docs/my-website/docs/proxy/config_settings.md
+++ b/docs/my-website/docs/proxy/config_settings.md
@@ -367,6 +367,9 @@ router_settings:
 | ignore_invalid_deployments | boolean | If true, ignores invalid deployments. Default for proxy is True - to prevent invalid models from blocking other models from being loaded. |
 | search_tools | List[SearchToolTypedDict] | List of search tool configurations for Search API integration. Each tool specifies a search_tool_name and litellm_params with search_provider, api_key, api_base, etc. [Further Docs](../search/index.md) |
 | guardrail_list | List[GuardrailTypedDict] | List of guardrail configurations for guardrail load balancing. Enables load balancing across multiple guardrail deployments with the same guardrail_name. [Further Docs](./guardrails/guardrail_load_balancing.md) |
+| enable_health_check_routing | boolean | If true, enables health check-driven deployment filtering to avoid routing requests to unhealthy deployments |
+| health_check_staleness_threshold | integer | Maximum age in seconds for cached health check results before marking deployments as stale |
+| health_check_ignore_transient_errors | boolean | If true, 429 (rate limit) and 408 (timeout) health check failures are ignored and do not affect routing or cooldown |
 
 
 ### environment variables - Reference
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/health_check.py b/litellm/proxy/health_check.py
index 70621c5e979..a171aae3998 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/health_check.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/health_check.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ ILLEGAL_DISPLAY_PARAMS = [
     "vertex_credentials",
     "aws_access_key_id",
     "aws_secret_access_key",
+    "exception",  # internal; not JSON-serializable, never for display
 ]
 
 MINIMAL_DISPLAY_PARAMS = ["model", "mode_error"]
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/router_utils/test_router_health_check_routing.py b/tests/test_litellm/router_utils/test_router_health_check_routing.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b87a39ac1de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/router_utils/test_router_health_check_routing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+"""
+Tests for health-check-driven routing filter in the Router.
+"""
+
+import time
+
+import pytest
+
+from litellm.caching.caching import DualCache
+from litellm.router_utils.health_state_cache import DeploymentHealthCache
+
+
+def _make_deployment(model_id: str, model_name: str = "gpt-4") -> dict:
+    """Helper to create a deployment dict for testing."""
+    return {
+        "model_name": model_name,
+        "litellm_params": {"model": model_name, "api_key": "fake"},
+        "model_info": {"id": model_id},
+    }
+
+
+def _make_health_cache(
+    unhealthy_ids: set = None, staleness_threshold: float = 60.0
+) -> DeploymentHealthCache:
+    """Create a health cache pre-populated with unhealthy deployment IDs."""
+    cache = DualCache()
+    health_cache = DeploymentHealthCache(
+        cache=cache, staleness_threshold=staleness_threshold
+    )
+    if unhealthy_ids:
+        now = time.time()
+        states = {}
+        for uid in unhealthy_ids:
+            states[uid] = {
+                "is_healthy": False,
+                "timestamp": now,
+                "reason": "test_unhealthy",
+            }
+        health_cache.set_deployment_health_states(states)
+    return health_cache
+
+
+class TestFilterHealthCheckUnhealthyDeployments:
+    """Test the sync filter method."""
+
+    def _make_router_like(self, enable: bool, health_cache: DeploymentHealthCache):
+        """Create a minimal object that behaves like Router for filter testing."""
+
+        class FakeRouter:
+            def __init__(self):
+                self.enable_health_check_routing = enable
+                self.health_state_cache = health_cache
+                self.allowed_fails_policy = None
+
+        # Import the actual method and bind it
+        from litellm.router import Router
+
+        fake = FakeRouter()
+        # Use the unbound method
+        fake._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments = (
+            Router._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments.__get__(fake, FakeRouter)
+        )
+        return fake
+
+    def test_filter_removes_unhealthy_deployments(self):
+        """Unhealthy deployments should be removed from candidates."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache(unhealthy_ids={"deploy-2"})
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=True, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-3"),
+        ]
+        result = router._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(deployments)
+        assert len(result) == 2
+        assert all(d["model_info"]["id"] != "deploy-2" for d in result)
+
+    def test_filter_noop_when_disabled(self):
+        """When enable_health_check_routing=False, filter should be a no-op."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache(unhealthy_ids={"deploy-1"})
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=False, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+        ]
+        result = router._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(deployments)
+        assert len(result) == 2  # no filtering
+
+    def test_filter_returns_all_when_all_unhealthy(self):
+        """Safety net: if ALL deployments are unhealthy, return all (don't cause outage)."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache(
+            unhealthy_ids={"deploy-1", "deploy-2", "deploy-3"}
+        )
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=True, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-3"),
+        ]
+        result = router._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(deployments)
+        assert len(result) == 3  # all returned, safety net
+
+    def test_filter_returns_all_when_cache_empty(self):
+        """When cache is empty, all deployments should pass through."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache()  # empty
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=True, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+        ]
+        result = router._filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(deployments)
+        assert len(result) == 2
+
+
+class TestAsyncFilterHealthCheckUnhealthyDeployments:
+    """Test the async filter method."""
+
+    def _make_router_like(self, enable: bool, health_cache: DeploymentHealthCache):
+        from litellm.router import Router
+
+        class FakeRouter:
+            def __init__(self):
+                self.enable_health_check_routing = enable
+                self.health_state_cache = health_cache
+                self.allowed_fails_policy = None
+
+        fake = FakeRouter()
+        fake._async_filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments = (
+            Router._async_filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments.__get__(
+                fake, FakeRouter
+            )
+        )
+        return fake
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_async_filter_removes_unhealthy(self):
+        """Async version: unhealthy deployments removed."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache(unhealthy_ids={"deploy-2"})
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=True, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-3"),
+        ]
+        result = await router._async_filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(
+            healthy_deployments=deployments
+        )
+        assert len(result) == 2
+        assert all(d["model_info"]["id"] != "deploy-2" for d in result)
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_async_filter_safety_net(self):
+        """Async version: safety net when all unhealthy."""
+        health_cache = _make_health_cache(unhealthy_ids={"deploy-1", "deploy-2"})
+        router = self._make_router_like(enable=True, health_cache=health_cache)
+
+        deployments = [
+            _make_deployment("deploy-1"),
+            _make_deployment("deploy-2"),
+        ]
+        result = await router._async_filter_health_check_unhealthy_deployments(
+            healthy_deployments=deployments
+        )
+        assert len(result) == 2  # safety net
+
+
+class TestBuildDeploymentHealthStates:
+    """Test the build_deployment_health_states function."""
+
+    def test_builds_states_from_endpoints(self):
+        from litellm.proxy.health_check import build_deployment_health_states
+
+        healthy = [{"model": "gpt-4", "model_id": "deploy-1"}]
+        unhealthy = [{"model": "gpt-4", "model_id": "deploy-2", "error": "timeout"}]
+
+        states = build_deployment_health_states(healthy, unhealthy)
+        assert states["deploy-1"]["is_healthy"] is True
+        assert states["deploy-2"]["is_healthy"] is False
+
+    def test_no_model_id_skipped(self):
+        from litellm.proxy.health_check import build_deployment_health_states
+
+        healthy = [{"model": "gpt-4"}]  # no model_id
+        unhealthy = [{"model": "gpt-4", "model_id": "deploy-2"}]
+
+        states = build_deployment_health_states(healthy, unhealthy)
+        assert "deploy-1" not in states
+        assert states["deploy-2"]["is_healthy"] is False
+
+    def test_empty_endpoints(self):
+        from litellm.proxy.health_check import build_deployment_health_states
+
+        states = build_deployment_health_states([], [])
+        assert states == {}