Is a Medical Assistant and a Medical Front Office Assistant the same thing?

They both have overlapping functions. Many medical assistants will be able to go to the front desk to check in patient, and to take their payments, etc. To be able to work in the plastic surgeon or dermatologists office – if they don't want to pay for a nurse (an LVN or a registered nurse), sometimes they employ a medical assistant. That really limits the function of what an MA can do because they are only allowed to do certain things. Plastic surgeons do need to use registered nurses for operating room/postoperative recovery room and medical assistants simply can't function there because they were not trained so. Hope this helps.

The term "medical assistant" may have legal status in jurisdictions where they can be certified or registered....... whereas elsewhere they may be a loosely defined group (covering related occupational titles such as ‘medical office assistant’, ‘clinical assistant’, 'assistant medical officer', or ‘ophthalmic assistant’). The occupation should not be confused with physician assistants, who are licensed professionals trained to practice medicine and surgical procedures under the supervision of a physician. So yes they are the same!!!