Venture capital investment may have declined overall during the first quarter of 2012, yet health IT companies hit pay dirt. The number of deals remained flat at 18, yet the firms raised $102 million, an increase of 75 percent over the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. The good news is hiring generally follows funding. Forbes pointed to these top four deals in the report:

• Kinnser Software of Austin, Texas, raised $40 million in March. Its technology allows home health workers to access patient records from a laptop or tablet. With the funding, it plans to add as many as 60 people to its 92-employee company, including positions in software development, sales and marketing.
• PerfectServe of Knoxville, Tenn., which produces hospital communications technology, raised $10.9 million in February. Though its announcement didn't mention hiring, it said the investment will  "support the company’s growth and innovation."
• Truveris of New York raised $10 million in February. Its technology manages pharmacy benefit plans and payments. The company recently introduced an automated reverse-auction software to drive savings for payers such as insurance companies and self-insured organizations.
• TigerText of Santa Monica, Calif., creates mobile messaging software. It recently raised $8.2 million to accelerate development of its HIPAA-compliant messaging platform. Among its job openings: a mobile QA engineer and a mobile engineering internship.