It’s the flu and cold season, and to add insult to injury, along comes the so-called Congressional “lame-duck session.”

Lame duck session refers to when Congress reconvenes in an even-numbered year following the November general elections. Some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress. With only a couple of months left to work, the implication is that not much will get done.

This year, lawmakers return from home and the campaign trail on Nov. 9 for the introduction of bills. The work of the lame duck session begins on Nov. 13.

From the point of view of healthcare leaders, policy makers, people who work in hospitals, medical practices and health insurance offices, employers and – we expect – consumers, the hope is that Congress will pass the Healthcare IT Promotion Act during this ever so short session.

The House passed its bill on July 27. The Senate version had already passed in November 2005. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., co-sponsor of the bill with Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., said before Congress adjourned for the midterm elections there was “plenty of time” to reconcile the bill and move to the President for signature.

At the time, that seemed plausible to Scott Wallace, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology. Most of the controversial provisions have been removed from the bill, he noted.

True, but the bill languished in committee. And there it remained as lawmakers headed home.

We urge Congress to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions and pass the bill. But, even as we do so, we wonder whether a lame duck session will be able to muster the energy and the will to get the work done. It’s disheartening – despite the positive spin the nation’s interim healthcare IT czar puts on it.

Even with Congress in recess for the final days of campaigning before the November elections, work was under way to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of the bill, National Health Information Technology Coordination Robert M. Kolodner, MD,  told Healthcare Finance News Editor Fred Bazzoli. Kolodner was optimistic the bill would pass in the lame duck session, he said.

OK. But speaking of Kolodner and lame ducks, at least twice since he started the job last September, he has mentioned in public speeches that he has a couple of months left in the post. Kolodner is considered to be on “detail” from the Department of Veterans Affairs. His 120-day detail would end in January, according to a source in the department. Whether the detail will be renewed, or whether Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt plans to name a successor, we don’t know.

Former healthcare IT czar David Brailer said Kolodner’s title was intentionally “interim.” Yes, but interim might have meant until the end of 2007, when the Bush administration comes to an end.

That it might mean in two months is not only disheartening, it is puzzling.

Brailer is among dozens of industry leaders who have heaped praise on Kolodner and his accomplishments. But no matter how bright and accomplished he is, how much could anyone do between Sept. 20 and January?

Can’t we keep the brilliant Dr. Kolodner on the job?

By all accounts, he is no lame-duck, so we ask Secretary Leavitt, those in authority at the VA, and Dr. Kolodner himself to extend the stint. We know the four directors at the Office of the National Coordinator are doing yeomen’s work. But, if it seemed critical to have a healthcare IT czar in place for a few months, isn’t it reasonable to have him at the helm until the end of next year?

We fight the common cold with plenty of rest and extra orange juice. To ward off lame-duck syndrome, there needs to be action. It can start with passage of the Healthcare Information Technology Promotion Act, and extending the term of the national healthcare IT chief.