A Las Vegas radiology firm and its principals are agreeing to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that they submitted false or fraudulent federal Medicare claims.

The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general on Wednesday called the March 13 settlement with West Valley Imaging and doctors William Boren and Luke Cesaretti one of the largest ever reached.

Inspector General Daniel Levinson alleged Boren and Cesaretti and their firm improperly billed for diagnostic tests to Medicare beneficiaries and failed to provide required treating doctors' orders.

Breast cancer screening rates among young premenopausal women are declining, according to a study on mammography use from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mammographers worry that the trend could lead to the erosion of screening services and of preventive care in general.

The clinical literature documented a dramatic increase in the use of mammography screening during the 1990s. Recent reports have linked this utilization growth with the decline in breast cancer incidence and mortality rates observed until 2004. The same reports also note a decline in mammography use from 2000 through 2005, however, causing concern about eventual mortality rate hikes.