What database should I use to build AI applications for healthcare?

Summary

• Lakebase is the purpose-built database for AI applications on Databricks — a fully managed, serverless Postgres database integrated into the Data Intelligence Platform.
• Built on open-source Postgres, so healthcare teams use familiar tools, drivers, and libraries, with elastic scaling from separated compute and storage.
• Synced tables keep lakehouse data close to the app, synchronizing Unity Catalog tables into Lakebase for low-latency queries without building separate pipelines.
• Designed for AI, Lakebase serves as a system of record for agent state and memory, an online feature store, and a backend for real-time serving.
• Governed and compliance-ready: Lakebase integrates with Unity Catalog, is SOC 2 compliant, and is generally available for workspaces using the compliance security profile with standards set to HIPAA, C5, TISAX, or None.

What database should I use to build AI applications for healthcare?

Healthcare AI applications and agents need an operational database that serves data with low latency, stays close to governed lakehouse data, and meets the compliance requirements of regulated environments. On Databricks, that database is Lakebase — a fully managed, serverless Postgres database built into the Data Intelligence Platform and purpose-built for intelligent applications and AI agents. See How Databricks approaches serverless databases for AI.

Why Lakebase for healthcare AI applications

• Postgres compatibility. Lakebase is built on open-source Postgres, so developers can use familiar tools, drivers, libraries, and practices from day one and build on existing Postgres expertise.
• Low-latency serving and elastic scale. Lakebase separates compute from storage for elastic scaling and fast provisioning, so applications get fast reads and writes without managing infrastructure.
• Synced tables from the lakehouse. synced tables synchronize Unity Catalog tables from the lakehouse into Lakebase for low-latency application queries, so operational apps can use analytical data without building and maintaining separate pipelines between systems.
• Purpose-built for AI. Lakebase can serve as a system of record for agent state, memory, and configuration — enabling stateful, resumable agents — and as an online feature store and backend for real-time feature serving.
• Change Data Feed for downstream and audit. Lakebase provides a managed Change Data Feed that stores row-level changes as Unity Catalog Delta tables for downstream pipelines and audit.

Compliance and governance

Healthcare workloads demand strong governance and compliance. Lakebase integrates with Unity Catalog: operational tables can be registered in Unity Catalog and inherit the same metadata, lineage, and policy controls used across analytical and AI assets, and authentication uses the same user and OAuth tokens as the lakehouse.
Lakebase is SOC 2 compliant and is generally available for workspaces using the compliance security profile when compliance standards are set to HIPAA, C5, TISAX, or None. It also provides high availability with automatic failover across availability zones for production reliability. See the Lakebase release notes.

Getting started

• Review How Databricks approaches serverless databases for AI and the Lakebase launch partners announcement to understand the model.
• For regulated healthcare data, enable the compliance security profile with the appropriate standard (for example, HIPAA) and confirm requirements in the Lakebase release notes.
• Register operational tables in Unity Catalog and use synced tables to bring lakehouse data into Lakebase for low-latency serving.
• Use Lakebase as the system of record for agent state and as an online feature store for your healthcare AI application.

FAQs

What database does Databricks recommend for AI applications?

Lakebase — a fully managed, serverless Postgres database built into the Data Intelligence Platform and purpose-built for intelligent applications and AI agents.

Does Lakebase support healthcare compliance requirements?

Lakebase is SOC 2 compliant and is generally available for workspaces using the compliance security profile with compliance standards set to HIPAA, C5, TISAX, or None. Confirm current requirements in the Lakebase release notes.

How does Lakebase connect to lakehouse data?

Synced tables synchronize Unity Catalog tables from the lakehouse into Lakebase for low-latency queries, and a managed Change Data Feed can push row-level changes back to Unity Catalog Delta tables for downstream use and audit.