diff --git a/app/models/column.rb b/app/models/column.rb
index b9c223fe8..c4d54b6c5 100644
--- a/app/models/column.rb
+++ b/app/models/column.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Column
 
   # the h_id is a Hash and hold enough information to find the column
   # in the ColumnType class, aka be able to do the h_id -> column conversion
-  def h_id = { procedure_id: @procedure_id, column_id: "#{table}/#{column}" }
+  def h_id = { procedure_id: @procedure_id, column_id: }
 
   def ==(other) = h_id == other.h_id # using h_id instead of id to avoid inversion of keys
 
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class Column
 
   private
 
+  def column_id = "#{table}/#{column}"
+
   def typed_value(champ)
     value = string_value(champ)
     parse_value(value, type: champ.last_write_column_type)