ObjectiveTo analyze the efficacy of promoting the development of day surgery in a municipal third-level public hospital under the guidance of national hospital performance appraisal system. MethodThe annual data relevant day surgery in the Yibin Second People’s Hospital were collected from 2016 to 2022, which were divided into three stages: 2016–2018, 2019–2020, and 2021–2022. The trend and correlation of the performance appraisal indicators were analyzed. ResultsThe day surgery in the Yibin Second People’s Hospital started in 2018, and its proportion in the elective surgery was only 1.2% in 2018, then increased continuously after the implementation of performance appraisal system, and was up to 34.7% in 2022. From 2016 to 2022, the proportion of discharged patients underwent surgery in the entire hospital increased continuously from 22.4% in 2016 to 35.7% in 2022, and the average hospital stay in the entire hospital gradually decreased from 10.9 d to 8.1 d, which both had a significant linear correlation with the proportion of day surgery in the elective surgery (rs=0.93, P=0.002; rs=–0.99, P<0.001, respectively). In the recent implementation of performance appraisal system, the re-operation rate after day surgery was less than 0.1%, the readmission rate of day surgery after discharge was 0%, and the satisfaction rate of day surgery patients was more than 95.0%, which reached 97.0% by 2022, higher than the average level of inpatient satisfaction in the entire hospital. Taking laparoscopic cholecystectomy, cataract phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation, internal fixation extraction, vocal cord polypectomy, and endoscopic gastric polypectomy as example, the average total hospitalization cost and average cost excluding drug and medical materials consumption of the day surgery all decreased compared to non-day-surgery mode, respectively. ConclusionUnder the guidance of national hospital performance appraisal system, day surgery has entered a rapid developing stage, but it is still necessary to promote the medical quality by standardized, precise, and informationized day surgery management.