Dr. Kenneth Fischer joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, Fargo, as a medical director of behavioral health in medical management, effective January 1. He will oversee the administration and management of psychiatric and substance abuse benefits, and direct the determinations of psychiatric and substance abuse services for medical necessity and appropriateness. He will also develop behavioral health policy. In addition, Fischer will work with mental health groups and provider groups and will consult with legislative and regulatory bodies.

Prior to joining BCBSND, Fischer was a child/adolescent psychiatrist at Sanford Health, Fargo, and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of North Dakota School (UND) of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks.

A Fargo native, Fischer is a graduate of Shanley High School and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. He earned his medical doctorate from the UND School of Medicine and completed an adult psychiatry residency and child psychiatry fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Before joining Sanford, he worked as an attending physician at Prairie St. John's Psychiatric Hospital, Fargo.

BCBSND is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.