The head of New Mexico's Human Services Department says the relationships between six nonprofit behavioral health service providers and a for-profit Arizona company appear fraught with conflicts of interest.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the top executives of the nonprofits were on the payroll of Tucson-based Providence Service Corp. until they were forced out earlier this summer by the Human Services Department.

The six New Mexico nonprofits along with nine others had their state Medicaid payments suspended after an audit allegedly turned up evidence of fraud and abuse.

A review of tax records showed the nonprofits paid amounts ranging from $200,000 to $900,000 a year to a Providence subsidiary and another nonprofit firm controlled by Providence for providing administrative support services that included Medicaid billing to the state.