diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 3f20e4a8295..b313293d348 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.3.2
 	github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.1
 	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0
+	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.1.1
 	github.com/googleapis/gnostic v0.2.0 // indirect
 	github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.4.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 017ce039aa5..30a2cd1dc83 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -257,6 +257,8 @@ github.com/google/martian v2.1.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:9I4somxYTbIHy5NJKHRl3wXi
 github.com/google/pprof v0.0.0-20181206194817-3ea8567a2e57/go.mod h1:zfwlbNMJ+OItoe0UupaVj+oy1omPYYDuagoSzA8v9mc=
 github.com/google/pprof v0.0.0-20190515194954-54271f7e092f/go.mod h1:zfwlbNMJ+OItoe0UupaVj+oy1omPYYDuagoSzA8v9mc=
 github.com/google/renameio v0.1.0/go.mod h1:KWCgfxg9yswjAJkECMjeO8J8rahYeXnNhOm40UhjYkI=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510 h1:El6M4kTTCOh6aBiKaUGG7oYTSPP8MxqL4YI3kZKwcP4=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510/go.mod h1:pupxD2MaaD3pAXIBCelhxNneeOaAeabZDe5s4K6zSpQ=
 github.com/google/uuid v1.0.0 h1:b4Gk+7WdP/d3HZH8EJsZpvV7EtDOgaZLtnaNGIu1adA=
 github.com/google/uuid v1.0.0/go.mod h1:TIyPZe4MgqvfeYDBFedMoGGpEw/LqOeaOT+nhxU+yHo=
 github.com/google/uuid v1.1.1 h1:Gkbcsh/GbpXz7lPftLA3P6TYMwjCLYm83jiFQZF/3gY=
diff --git a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
index c9ce887067d..18f1e77bc2e 100644
--- a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
+++ b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
@@ -442,24 +442,27 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) updateHealth(th *TabletHealth, shr *query.StreamHealt
 		}
 	}
 	if !trivialNonMasterUpdate {
-		if shr.Target.TabletType != topodata.TabletType_MASTER {
+		// we re-sort the healthy tablet list whenever we get a health update for tablets we can route to
+		// tablets from other cells for non-master targets should not trigger a re-sort
+		// they should also be excluded from healthy list
+		if shr.Target.TabletType != topodata.TabletType_MASTER && hc.isIncluded(shr.Target.TabletType, shr.TabletAlias) {
 			all := hc.healthData[targetKey]
 			allArray := make([]*TabletHealth, 0, len(all))
 			for _, s := range all {
 				// only tablets in same cell / cellAlias are included in healthy list
-				if hc.isIncluded(shr) {
+				if hc.isIncluded(s.Tablet.Type, s.Tablet.Alias) {
 					allArray = append(allArray, s)
 				}
 			}
 			hc.healthy[targetKey] = FilterStatsByReplicationLag(allArray)
 		}
-		if targetChanged && currentTarget.TabletType != topodata.TabletType_MASTER { // also recompute old target's healthy list
+		if targetChanged && currentTarget.TabletType != topodata.TabletType_MASTER && hc.isIncluded(shr.Target.TabletType, shr.TabletAlias) { // also recompute old target's healthy list
 			oldTargetKey := hc.keyFromTarget(currentTarget)
 			all := hc.healthData[oldTargetKey]
 			allArray := make([]*TabletHealth, 0, len(all))
 			for _, s := range all {
 				// only tablets in same cell / cellAlias are included in healthy list
-				if hc.isIncluded(shr) {
+				if hc.isIncluded(s.Tablet.Type, s.Tablet.Alias) {
 					allArray = append(allArray, s)
 				}
 			}
@@ -716,14 +719,14 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) getAliasByCell(cell string) string {
 	return alias
 }
 
-func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) isIncluded(shr *query.StreamHealthResponse) bool {
-	if shr.Target.TabletType == topodata.TabletType_MASTER {
+func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) isIncluded(tabletType topodata.TabletType, tabletAlias *topodata.TabletAlias) bool {
+	if tabletType == topodata.TabletType_MASTER {
 		return true
 	}
-	if shr.TabletAlias.Cell == hc.cell {
+	if tabletAlias.Cell == hc.cell {
 		return true
 	}
-	if hc.getAliasByCell(shr.TabletAlias.Cell) == hc.getAliasByCell(hc.cell) {
+	if hc.getAliasByCell(tabletAlias.Cell) == hc.getAliasByCell(hc.cell) {
 		return true
 	}
 	return false