This study analyzes the impact of effective knowledge management, organizational intelligence, and organizational performance on the effective hospital response and social health to covid-19. Data were collected through a research questionnaire sent to physicians and nurses who worked in hospitals in Brazil and Portugal. We sent the survey link using a professional social network and 101 valid responses were obtained. The PLS-SEM analysis technique was used to test hypotheses. The results showed that there is a positive relationship between the constructs of effective knowledge management and organizational performance, and effective response to covid-19. This study also indicates that effective knowledge management has a positive association with organizational intelligence and organizational performance, in addition to a positive relationship between organizational intelligence and organizational performance. As practical implications, our research reinforces the importance of effective knowledge management for pandemic management and validates the relationships between effective knowledge management, organizational intelligence, organizational performance, and hospital response effectiveness. From these results, hospitals and social health organizations will be able to improve their effectiveness in responding to new disease outbreaks. As originality, this work presents a model to manage the response of these health care and hospital institutions to pandemics.