The purpose of this project was to organize the variables associated with the hospital readmission of patients with heart failure (HF) into a usable framework to inform clinical practice and facilitate administrative decision making. An integrated, systematic review of the literature was used as the research approach. A content analysis of the sample (31 research reports from the years 1986-2004) yielded multiple factors associated with the hospital readmission of HF patients. Factors and their definitions were extracted, grouped into like categories, and eventually classified into 5 domains-demographic, physiologic, psychosocial, patient functioning, and resource utilization. The resulting framework has clinical, research, and administrative implications in the delivery of care to HF patients.