A nonprofit state contractor that placed its CEO on administrative leave pending an internal investigation and now faces a lawsuit saw its finances shift to a loss in 2025 following a two-year increase in salaries and consulting costs, according to the yearly independent audit submitted to the Office of Policy and Management.
Advanced Behavioral Health (ABH), a $33 million Middletown-based organization that handles mental and behavioral health administration for several Connecticut state departments, saw a $1.5 million swing in the wrong direction between 2024 and 2025 leading to an overall operating loss in 2025, and an overall balance of nearly $1 million in the negative.
A review of ABH’s submitted audit reports between 2023 and 2025 shows increasing costs for salaries and outside consultants while simultaneously seeing a decline in contract revenue.
Between 2023 and 2025, salaries at ABH grew from $9.9 million to $11.7 million, and professional and consulting services grew from $580,943 to $1.9 million. While overall provider payments from state agencies increased roughly in line with salaries – growing from $9.8 million to $11.3 million – contracted service revenue decline from $3.7 million to $3.4 million.
Overall, in 2025, the organization saw a $1.5 million decline in net operating revenue, a $1.7 million decline in grants and contracts, and a $1.6 million increase in administrative expenses in the span of one year. Those decreases, however, were buffeted by a decrease in expenditures.
Reached for comment, an ABH spokesperson pointed out that its yearly independent audits “have resulted in zero findings and no plan of correction.”
“ABH adheres to the same financial controls, cost standards, and audit requirements as all state contractors,” the spokesperson said. “Its expense tracking and internal controls are designed specifically to ensure compliance with reporting standards. ABH remains fully compliant with applicable state requirements.”
Part of the $1.4 million increase in consulting fees between 2023 and 2025, however, was for a contract with Behavioral Health Advisory Group (BHAG), a consultant company co-founded by current CEO of ABH, Deena Tampi.
A 2023 contract with BHAG dated for December of 2023 outlined consulting fees of $12,000 per month, plus travel expenses, for forty hours of work per month to provide “administrative and operational support” to ABH’s for-profit subsidiary, Solutions EAP, for six months.
According to a second January 2024 contract, BHAG was to receive $25,000 per month, plus travel expenses, for Tampi to serve as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer for fifty hours per month, and another consultant to work fifty hours per month as a senior advisor for project management for a period of six months. According to the contract, BHAG was listed as having an address in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
After dissolving BHAG, Tampi went on to become acting COO after interviewing with a third party firm, and then, following a national search, became CEO of ABH after Wable was placed on leave pending an internal investigation.
According to information previously obtained by Inside Investigator and court documents, the organization lost at least one contract for its for-profit subsidiary company Solutions EAP, which handles counseling services largely for state and local government, when the consultant unilaterally tried to raise the organization’s rates.
ABH is currently facing a lawsuit by their former head of Solutions EAP, who is claiming the organization fired her because she was a whistleblower who raised concerns about inappropriate use of state and federal funds to the ABH board. According to the lawsuit, Melissa Ortiz was terminated following a “compliance review” in which she refused to turn over her cell phone records and ABH claimed Solutions EAP had lost money.
According to the December 2023 contract, the consultant would provide “support and coaching for Melissa Ortiz for a successful transition from manager to Interim Director, with a focus on leadership, team assessments, budgeting, and pricing strategies.”
ABH has denied Ortiz’s allegations but cannot comment directly on the lawsuit. ABH has asked the court to strike Ortiz’s claims of hostile work environment and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Ortiz is also pursuing a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission, seeking the internal investigation ABH conducted, claiming that because ABH receives nearly all its funding from the state, it is the equivalent of a state agency and therefore subject to FOI rules.
According to ABH’s website, Tampi was “recently appointed by the Connecticut Speaker of the House to the Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council.”
**The original description of BHAG’s contract provisions was incorrect. This article has been updated to reflect the correct figures and clarify Tampi was selected for the COO role through an objective process**
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