Someone during surgery was not "in network," now the claim might possibly be denied

I had surgery in May. It was a necessary procedure, a total thyroidectomy, due to thyroid cancer. I saw an ENT surgeon who was in network and he performed the actual surgery. He works in an independent practice, but he performs the surgery regularly at the local hospitals ( 2 to 5 a week, has been doing this for over 30 years). When I was asked where I wanted the surgery done (which hospital), I chose the hospital in network. There are two hospitals in our area, and supposedly I am covered under both, but I chose the one I new was definitely in network.

Anyways, I was reviewing my claims and one of the claims is currently “in process,” but it is flagged as “Out of Network.” I cant do anything with it right now as it is still in process, but has anyone had this before? It looks like a specific doctor (one I never met) is in network. He is claiming three services, two muscle/nerve study and an intraoperative monitoring. The claim itself is labelled as “remote neuromonitoring physicians pc.” I am assuming this was something necessary for the surgery, I dont know what for except I was told my ENT (so not the dr in question) does test the vocal cords to make sure they are working after the surgery. So I dont know if it is related to that, or if they are monitoring something else.

Can I appeal this if it gets denied for “out of network”? Its not like I chose this person, I was not given a selection on anesthesiologist, nurses, cna, or whatever professionals are there during surgery.

If I cant appeal this if it gets denied, how do I prevent this in the future and only having doctors in network? I will be needing future testing, etc for unrelated issues and I dont want to be in the same situation.

Edit to add: I live in the US just in case someone is asking.