diff --git a/.github/workflows/svc-bgs-api-integration-test.yml b/.github/workflows/svc-bgs-api-integration-test.yml
index c79730d3da..ca5861accd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/svc-bgs-api-integration-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/svc-bgs-api-integration-test.yml
@@ -60,45 +60,8 @@ jobs:
           # Quit after 60 seconds
           retries: 30
 
-      # Temporary step added to avoid race condition. Currently, there is no health check in 'svc-bgs-api'; therefore,
-      # at this step, it is unknown if svc-bgs-api has yet to create the 'bgs-api' exchange.
-      - name: 'Create bgs-api exchange'
-        uses: indiesdev/curl@v1.1
-        with:
-          url: 'http://localhost:15672/api/exchanges/%2f/bgs-api'
-          method: 'PUT'
-          basic-auth-token: '${{env.RABBITMQ_BASIC_AUTH}}'
-          body: '{"type":"direct", "durable":true, "auto_delete":true}'
-          accept: 201, 204
-          retries: 3
-          log-response: true
-
-      # Temporary step added to avoid race condition. Currently, there is no health check in 'svc-bgs-api'; therefore,
-      # at this step, it is unknown if svc-bgs-api has yet to create the 'add-note' queue.
-      - name: 'Create add-note queue'
-        uses: indiesdev/curl@v1.1
-        with:
-          url: 'http://localhost:15672/api/queues/%2f/add-note'
-          method: 'PUT'
-          basic-auth-token: '${{env.RABBITMQ_BASIC_AUTH}}'
-          body: '{"durable":true, "auto_delete":true}'
-          accept: 201, 204
-          retries: 3
-          log-response: true
-
-      # Temporary step added to avoid race condition. Currently, there is no health check in 'svc-bgs-api'; therefore,
-      # at this step, it is unknown if svc-bgs-api has yet to create the binding from 'bgs-api' exchange to 'add-note'
-      # queue.
-      - name: 'Create binding for add-note queue to bgs-api exchange'
-        uses: indiesdev/curl@v1.1
-        with:
-          url: 'http://localhost:15672/api/bindings/%2f/e/bgs-api/q/add-note'
-          method: 'POST'
-          basic-auth-token: '${{env.RABBITMQ_BASIC_AUTH}}'
-          body: '{"routing_key":"add-note","arguments":{}}'
-          accept: 201, 204
-          retries: 3
-          log-response: true
+      - name: 'Check for healthy BGS container'
+        run: timeout 180s sh -c 'until docker ps | grep ".*svc-bgs-api.*" | grep -q healthy; do echo "Waiting for container to be healthy..."; sleep 2; done'
 
       - name: 'Create add-note-response queue'
         uses: indiesdev/curl@v1.1
diff --git a/svc-bgs-api/Dockerfile b/svc-bgs-api/Dockerfile
index 09275c141e..364fed5a89 100644
--- a/svc-bgs-api/Dockerfile
+++ b/svc-bgs-api/Dockerfile
@@ -35,5 +35,4 @@ ENTRYPOINT ["/app/entrypoint-wrapper.sh"]
 
 ARG HEALTHCHECK_PORT_ARG=8080
 ENV HEALTHCHECK_PORT=${HEALTHCHECK_PORT_ARG}
-# TODO: add healthcheck for Ruby microservice
-# HEALTHCHECK CMD curl --fail http://localhost:${HEALTHCHECK_PORT}/actuator/health || exit 1
+HEALTHCHECK CMD bundle exec ruby healthcheck/healthcheck.rb
diff --git a/svc-bgs-api/src/config/constants.rb b/svc-bgs-api/src/config/constants.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e0a99bafc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/svc-bgs-api/src/config/constants.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Contains constant definitions for queues, exchanges, and fields
+
+BUNNY_ARGS = {
+  host: ENV['RABBITMQ_PLACEHOLDERS_HOST'] || "localhost",
+  user: ENV['RABBITMQ_USERNAME'] || "guest",
+  password: ENV['RABBITMQ_PASSWORD'] || "guest"
+}
+
+CAMEL_MQ_PROPERTIES = { durable: true, auto_delete: true }
+
+BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME = "bgs-api"
+
+HEALTHCHECK_REPLY_QUEUE = "healthcheck-reply"
+HEALTHCHECK_QUEUE = "healthcheck"
+ADD_NOTE_QUEUE = "add-note"
diff --git a/svc-bgs-api/src/healthcheck/healthcheck.rb b/svc-bgs-api/src/healthcheck/healthcheck.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2666bc2500
--- /dev/null
+++ b/svc-bgs-api/src/healthcheck/healthcheck.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Inspired by the README at https://github.com/ruby-amqp/bunny
+
+require 'bunny'
+require 'json'
+
+require_relative '../config/constants'
+
+conn = Bunny.new(BUNNY_ARGS)
+conn.start
+
+ch = conn.create_channel
+x = ch.direct(BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME, CAMEL_MQ_PROPERTIES)
+
+r = ch.queue(HEALTHCHECK_REPLY_QUEUE, CAMEL_MQ_PROPERTIES).bind(x, :routing_key => HEALTHCHECK_REPLY_QUEUE)
+
+q = ch.queue(HEALTHCHECK_QUEUE, CAMEL_MQ_PROPERTIES).bind(x, :routing_key => HEALTHCHECK_QUEUE)
+q.publish('{"health": "check"}', :reply_to => HEALTHCHECK_REPLY_QUEUE)
+
+delivery_info, properties, payload = r.pop
+
+if JSON.parse(payload)["statusCode"] != 200 then
+    raise "svc-bgs-api healthcheck failed"
+end
diff --git a/svc-bgs-api/src/main_consumer.rb b/svc-bgs-api/src/main_consumer.rb
index 406b6ec9c0..88e7abd802 100644
--- a/svc-bgs-api/src/main_consumer.rb
+++ b/svc-bgs-api/src/main_consumer.rb
@@ -2,20 +2,25 @@
 require 'active_support'
 
 require_relative 'config/setup'
+require_relative 'config/constants'
 
 require 'rabbit_subscriber'
 require 'bgs_client'
 
-BUNNY_ARGS = {
-  host: ENV['RABBITMQ_PLACEHOLDERS_HOST'].presence || "localhost",
-  user: ENV['RABBITMQ_USERNAME'].presence || "guest",
-  password: ENV['RABBITMQ_PASSWORD'].presence || "guest"
-}
-
 def initialize_subscriber(bgs_client)
   subscriber = RabbitSubscriber.new(BUNNY_ARGS)
-  subscriber.setup_queue(exchange_name: 'bgs-api', queue_name: 'add-note')
-  subscriber.subscribe_to('bgs-api', 'add-note') do |json|
+
+  # Setup queue/subscription for healthcheck
+  subscriber.setup_queue(exchange_name: BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME, queue_name: HEALTHCHECK_QUEUE)
+  subscriber.subscribe_to(BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME, HEALTHCHECK_QUEUE) do |json|
+   $logger.info "Subscriber received healthcheck request #{json}"
+   { statusCode: 200 }
+  end
+  subscriber
+
+  # Setup queue/subscription for BGS
+  subscriber.setup_queue(exchange_name: BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME, queue_name: ADD_NOTE_QUEUE)
+  subscriber.subscribe_to(BGS_EXCHANGE_NAME, ADD_NOTE_QUEUE) do |json|
     $logger.info "Subscriber received request #{json}"
     begin
       bgs_client.handle_request(json)