diff --git a/app/main/views/index.py b/app/main/views/index.py
index 92e5de949..69e6a8b2e 100644
--- a/app/main/views/index.py
+++ b/app/main/views/index.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from app.main.views.sub_navigation_dictionaries import (
     about_notify_nav,
     using_notify_nav,
 )
+from app.utils.api_health import is_api_down
 from app.utils.user import user_is_logged_in
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -51,11 +52,11 @@ def index():
     except Exception as e:
         logger.warning(f"API down when loading homepage: {e}")
         counts = None
-        print(counts)
     return render_template(
         "views/signedout.html",
         sms_rate=CURRENT_SMS_RATE,
         counts=counts,
+        is_api_down=is_api_down()
     )
 
 
diff --git a/app/templates/error/technical_difficulties.html b/app/templates/error/technical_difficulties.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af6a4401d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/templates/error/technical_difficulties.html
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{% block content %}
+  <section class="grid-container usa-section margin-top-5 margin-bottom-5">
+  <div class="grid-row flex-justify-center">
+    <div class="desktop:grid-col-3 tablet:grid-col-4 mobile:grid-col-12 flex-align-center">
+      <img
+      class="width-tablet tablet:width-full"
+      src="{{ asset_url('images/api-error.svg') }}"
+      alt="Mobile phone showing error screen"/>
+    </div>
+    <div class="desktop:grid-col-6 tablet:grid-col-12 padding-left-0 desktop:padding-left-5">
+      <h1 class="font-body-3xl line-height-sans-2 text-bold">
+        There's currently a technical issue.
+      </h1>
+      <p class="font-body-lg line-height-sans-2">Thank you for your patience while we work on it. Notify will be back soon.</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  </div>
+  </section>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/app/templates/views/signedout.html b/app/templates/views/signedout.html
index 3cb35866c..624874c10 100644
--- a/app/templates/views/signedout.html
+++ b/app/templates/views/signedout.html
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ import usaButton %} {% block meta %}
 />
 {% endblock %}
 {% block pageTitle %} Notify.gov
-  {% if counts %} - There's currently a technical issue {% endif %}
+  {% if is_api_down %} - There's currently a technical issue {% endif %}
 {% endblock %}
 {% block main %}
 {% block beforeContent %}{% endblock %}
 
 <main id="main-content" role="main">
-  {% if counts %}
+  {% if is_api_down %}
     <div class="usa-alert usa-alert--info usa-alert--slim" aria-label="Site alert,,,,">
       <div class="grid-container padding-x-0">
         <div class="usa-alert__body">
@@ -24,24 +24,8 @@ import usaButton %} {% block meta %}
     </div>
   {% endif %}
   {% block content %}
-  {% if counts %}
-  <section class="grid-container usa-section margin-top-5 margin-bottom-5">
-  <div class="grid-row flex-justify-center">
-    <div class="desktop:grid-col-3 tablet:grid-col-4 mobile:grid-col-12 flex-align-center">
-      <img
-      class="width-tablet tablet:width-full"
-      src="{{ asset_url('images/api-error.svg') }}"
-      alt="Mobile phone showing error screen"/>
-    </div>
-    <div class="desktop:grid-col-6 tablet:grid-col-12 padding-left-0 desktop:padding-left-5">
-      <h1 class="font-body-3xl line-height-sans-2 text-bold">
-        There's currently a technical issue.
-      </h1>
-      <p class="font-body-lg line-height-sans-2">Thank you for your patience while we work on it. Notify will be back soon.</p>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-  </div>
-  </section>
+  {% if is_api_down %}
+    {% include "error/technical_difficulties.html" %}
   {% endif %}
   <section class="usa-section--dark usa-hero" aria-label="Introduction">
     <div class="grid-container padding-y-4">
diff --git a/app/utils/api_health.py b/app/utils/api_health.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c75fef5da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/utils/api_health.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import os
+
+import requests
+from requests.exceptions import RequestException
+
+
+def is_api_down():
+    api_base_url = os.getenv("API_BASE_URL", "http://localhost:6011")
+    try:
+        response = requests.get(api_base_url, timeout=2)
+        return response.status_code != 200
+    except RequestException:
+        return True
diff --git a/notifications_utils/markdown.py b/notifications_utils/markdown.py
index 43e7059b2..57d35ba43 100644
--- a/notifications_utils/markdown.py
+++ b/notifications_utils/markdown.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-from flask import current_app
-import mistune
-from notifications_utils.formatters import create_sanitised_html_for_url
-import re
 import html
+import re
+
+import mistune
+from flask import current_app
+
+from notifications_utils.formatters import create_sanitised_html_for_url
 
 LINK_STYLE = "word-wrap: break-word; color: #1D70B8;"