MINOCA is an acronym for Myocardial Infarction with Non-Obstructive Coronary Atherosclerosis. According to the American College of Cardiology, MINOCA accounts for about 5-10% of all MIs. Synonymous terms include:
- Myocardial Infarction with Coronary Microvascular Disease
- Myocardial Infarction with Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction
- Myocardial Infarction with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries with Microvascular Disease
MINOCA is a clinical syndrome characterized by evidence of Myocardial Infarction (MI) with normal or near normal coronary arteries on angiography (stenosis severity ≤50 percent) in the absence of obvious noncoronary causes of MI, such as severe hemorrhage or severe respiratory failure.
Coders were recently given instructions through the American Hospital Association (AHA) Coding Clinic® that, “Code assignment will not be the same in all cases of MINOCA, as it will depend on the type of MI documented in the medical record by the provider.”
However, effective October 1, 2023, ICD-10-CM will include a new diagnosis code for MINOCA (I21.B). Although the code set takes priority over AHA Coding Clinic, there may be some coders and CDI professionals who do not realize there is a new code for MINOCA and may either query the provider for specificity or assign an incorrect diagnosis, which could impact performance on quality-of-care metrics.
