diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/util/BeanUtils.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/util/BeanUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6e8b9b184955
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/util/BeanUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+package ca.uhn.fhir.util;
+
+/*
+ * #%L
+ * HAPI FHIR - Core Library
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 - 2015 University Health Network
+ * %%
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * #L%
+ */
+
+import java.beans.BeanInfo;
+import java.beans.IntrospectionException;
+import java.beans.Introspector;
+import java.beans.PropertyDescriptor;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+
+public class BeanUtils {
+
+	public static Method findAccessor(Class<?> theClassToIntrospect, Class<?> theTargetReturnType, String thePropertyName) throws NoSuchFieldException {
+		BeanInfo info;
+		try {
+			info = Introspector.getBeanInfo(theClassToIntrospect);
+		} catch (IntrospectionException e) {
+			throw new NoSuchFieldException(e.getMessage());
+		}
+		for (PropertyDescriptor pd : info.getPropertyDescriptors()) {
+			if (thePropertyName.equals(pd.getName())) {
+				if (theTargetReturnType.isAssignableFrom(pd.getPropertyType())) {
+				return pd.getReadMethod();
+				}else {
+					throw new NoSuchFieldException(theClassToIntrospect + " has an accessor for field " + thePropertyName + " but it does not return type " + theTargetReturnType);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		throw new NoSuchFieldException(theClassToIntrospect + " has no accessor for field " + thePropertyName);
+	}
+
+	public static Method findMutator(Class<?> theClassToIntrospect, Class<?> theTargetReturnType, String thePropertyName) throws NoSuchFieldException {
+		BeanInfo info;
+		try {
+			info = Introspector.getBeanInfo(theClassToIntrospect);
+		} catch (IntrospectionException e) {
+			throw new NoSuchFieldException(e.getMessage());
+		}
+		for (PropertyDescriptor pd : info.getPropertyDescriptors()) {
+			if (thePropertyName.equals(pd.getName())) {
+				if (theTargetReturnType.isAssignableFrom(pd.getPropertyType())) {
+					return pd.getWriteMethod();
+				}else {
+					throw new NoSuchFieldException(theClassToIntrospect + " has an mutator for field " + thePropertyName + " but it does not return type " + theTargetReturnType);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		throw new NoSuchFieldException(theClassToIntrospect + " has no mutator for field " + thePropertyName);
+	}
+}