What it means a xr chest pa and lateral [71020 cpt(r)] i was born with a broken chest and i got a surgury of a open heart

XR : Xr means x-ray, and "pa and lateral" refer to the patient's position during the x-ray examination. Pa means posteroanterior, which is best though of as the front view, whereas lateral is a view from the side. Pa & lateral chest x-rays are ordered all the time for a wide variety of reasons.

This : This is a description of a billing code for a chest x-ray. The x-ray is shot twice - once from back to front (pa), and once from the side (lateral). This is a routine way to do chest x-rays, since one gets additional information by reviewing both views. The 71020 is the code for this procedure in the list published by the american medical association of current procedural terminology (revised) [cpr(r)]. This is usually associated with a billing for the radiologist's interpretation of the x-ray. An additional billing may come from the facility where the x-ray was taken for the technician's time and the use of the x-ray equipment.