diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 36c193fb..ba305f19 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 - avoid future deprecation for pydantic.Field and use `json_schema_extra` instead of `openapi_examples`
 - use `orjson` based JSONResponse when available
 
+### Added
+
+- add response model for `/_mgmt/health` endpoint
+
 ## [5.2.0] - 2025-04-18
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/app.py b/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/app.py
index 86800143..ed39c31a 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/app.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/app.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     CollectionUri,
     EmptyRequest,
     GeoJSONResponse,
+    HealthCheck,
     ItemCollectionUri,
     ItemUri,
     JSONResponse,
@@ -397,12 +398,15 @@ async def ping():
         mgmt_router.add_api_route(
             name="Health",
             path="/_mgmt/health",
-            response_model=Dict,
+            response_model=(
+                HealthCheck if self.settings.enable_response_models else None
+            ),
             responses={
                 200: {
                     "content": {
                         MimeTypes.json.value: {},
                     },
+                    "model": HealthCheck,
                 },
             },
             response_class=self.response_class,
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/models.py b/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/models.py
index 581ec620..fc764efe 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/models.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/api/stac_fastapi/api/models.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """Api request/response models."""
 
-from typing import List, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import List, Literal, Optional, Type, Union
 
 import attr
 from fastapi import Path, Query
@@ -135,3 +135,9 @@ class JSONSchemaResponse(JSONResponse):
     """JSON with custom, vendor content-type."""
 
     media_type = "application/schema+json"
+
+
+class HealthCheck(BaseModel, extra="allow"):
+    """health check response model."""
+
+    status: Literal["UP", "DOWN"]