Audax Private Debt, as administrative agent and sole lead arranger, provided a unitranche credit facility to support the formation of MDpanel by Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York-based private investment firm. MDpanel is a new platform dedicated to the efficient delivery of medical opinions as part of the workers’ compensation insurance claims process.

Following the launch of MDpanel, California Medical Legal Specialists (CMLS) and California Medical Evaluators Holdings (CME), two providers of support services for physicians performing qualified medical evaluations (QMEs) for workers’ compensation claims, have also joined the platform. With the additions of CMLS and CME, MDpanel serves more than 250 evaluation sites and has supported more than a million evaluations across a variety of specialties including orthopedics, psychiatry, pain management, chiropractic and internal medicine.

“The CMLS and CME teams have done impressive jobs building their respective businesses and solidifying their market leading positions to service qualified medical evaluators throughout California,” Shehzad Ajmal, managing director at Audax Private Debt, said. “We’re excited to partner with Aquiline Capital Partners as they launch this new platform, bringing together two high-caliber, complimentary businesses that are poised to continue growing.”

“We are thrilled to have Audax’ support for this investment. The team worked closely alongside us throughout the process to provide flexible solutions that met our investment needs,” Benedict Baerst, partner at Aquiline Capital Partners, said. “We look forward to their partnership as we continue scaling the Company, providing the highest quality management services to even more physicians across our target markets.”