HOBO is an open source implementation of an object framework for encoding and decoding health insurance EDI formats, specifically those mandated by the administrative simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. In order to create the framework classes, the raw HIPAA X12 specifications are parsed by a generator which then converts the specifications into usable Java source code.
My initial concentration is on the 834 Benefit Enrollment and Maintenance transaction set, since my personal specialty is eligibility and enrollment. However, once it is functioning properly, I plan on quickly implementing the remaining transaction sets.
| Date | Event |
| 2003-22-01 | Coding started. |
| 2003-30-01 | Milestone 1 has been achieved by reading and writing an 834 sample file. The next goal is to implement the validation for the 834 transaction. |
Most HIPAA or generic X12 communications packages run off of templates which are evaluated at run-time. While this is suitable for use through tools, it makes coding complicated since most errors cannot be detected at compile time, and accessing data fields must be done through relatively slow lookups.
HOBO, however, uses the X12 specification to generate the source code for classes that represent the various data components. These classes have normal getters and setters for the various components and are used naturally as JavaBeans. Conceivably, they could be extended directly to function as a base for an enrollment system or claims processing system. However, it is more likely that they will be most useful in file translation or as an adapter to your existing data objects.
Although a functioning beta release is still weeks away, I'd like to hear from you if you have any interest in this project.
Please visit the Sourceforge project page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/hobo/. To contact me, send email to hoboadmin@optonline.net.