A method and computing device for assessing the integrity of receivers in a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) to improve load balancing. The method configures a load balancing manager to move registered modems between the receivers, where each receiver is tuned to a frequency. The method obtains a signal quality measurement for each receiver, and, for each receiver, evaluates the signal quality measurement, and identifies the receiver as an impaired receiver when the frequency to which the receiver is tuned is identified by the evaluating as an impaired frequency. The method attempts to repair each impaired receiver, and notifies the load balancing manager to not allow moving the registered modems to each impaired receiver that is not repairable, and to allow moving the registered modems to each receiver that transitions from impaired to unimpaired.