mod 57. Who makes the deciscion

We have a payer who will not pay for the initial visit by the surgeon who decides to proceed with surgery if the patient was already evaluated by another provider (not of the same speciality). Example: Patient is seen in Urgent Care. They proceed with a CT scan and note the patient is having an appendicitis. They send patient to the hospital to be seen by the surgeon who after evaluating the patient and reviewing the CT films decides to proceed with the surgery same day. This insurance feels that the decision was already made with the evaluation of the urgent care doctor. My thoughts are that the surgeon needs to further assess the patient and make sure they are a candidate for the surgery as well as whether or not to proceed. The liability lies with the surgeon so they should have the intial E&M with a mod 57 because they ultimately have made the decision. Any thoughts on this?